Sick Heart
by MoonbeamMadness
Summary: There's an awful lot the Dragon Slayers don't know about their early predecessors. They know even less about themselves. But in time, everything usually comes out. Rated for dark themes, mild horror, sexual content and adult content.
1. Prologue

The great War between Dragons left fire and ruin and death in its wake. It ruined more lives than could be counted and continued to ruin them long after it ended and Dragonkind had disappeared into the pages of legends and children's stories. Cities were levelled. Entire nations wiped out in minutes of combat. The side that could be considered allies to humans were vastly outnumbered. They knew they needed more soldiers if they hoped to survive. If the humans they protected hoped to survive as well. And then an idea formed. Something to bolster their forces.

Had the eager, smiling, happy faces that unknowingly volunteered and _been_ volunteered to be Dragon Slayers known that the ritual would make them outcasts, would change them on every level. Make them more, and simultaneously less then human. Had they known, they might have chosen differently. Or resisted the council of their elders. But they were just innocent children. They didn't know any better.

By the time they were older, it was hard to imagine the Dragon Slayers as ever having been anything as good or innocent as children.

The Dragons learned early on that it worked better with children. They took to it easier and with less chance of rejection and excruciating death. But the more they used the magic given to them, the more they changed. Slowly at first, before the violence of the war they were thrown into, the blood and the death, the anxiety amplified the side effects their 'parents' had hoped would be minor.

Braca truly believed that his Dragon magic was a disease.

"I don't give a fuck what Belserion says! If that Dragon bitch wants to fly her fucking high and mighty tail down here and rescue those hostages herself _,_ she bloody well can, till then? _I'_ _m_ in charge. And when I say we push forward, you move your _fucking_ backside! So consider them casualties of war if you want but that warehouse gets levelled. Am I understood?" The storehouse once destroyed would force a massive retreat. With no food for their soldiers, the enemy would be forced to withdraw.

There were a few unhappy mumbles from the men and women, his fellow Dragon Slayers, surrounding him, but reluctantly they all seemed to accept that. Their commander, here, now, had issued an order, for most they didn't see an option but to agree. Though not a single person there liked it. They all knew that Irene Belserian rarely gave an order like a retreat without very good reason. The first Dragon Slayer, now turned reluctant Dragon, was cunning and liked to plan out these battles beforehand. Wage the outcomes carefully. Maybe this would be the order that cost Braca his position, there were surely no shortage of Dragon Slayers hoping that to be the case. Despite a love of the fight, they were all sick of war.

The Dragon Slayers filed away. It was easy to tell the strongest in the group; scales now where their skin should be, clawed fingers. The newest generation would never have this problem, they'd be less, but have more control. More balance. But it was too late for them. They were too old. Gone too far. Their fates were sealed. They would eventually become Dragon's themselves. Doomed to eons of self loathing and loneliness.

"You shouldn't speak to them like that," A young girl no more than about fifteen appeared at his side, chastising him. "You aren't doing yourself any favors, you know, Irene is already pissed off about Cardis Valley. We should just withdraw!" Her eyes were glassy. "You know some of them won't be coming back..."

Braca's hard grey eyes snapped to the young girl.

"This is war. People die...and sometimes I give the orders that kill them. But if _we_ don't, plenty of innocent people will in our place," He argued.

The enemy Dragons had withdrawn, all but beaten by the Dragon Slayers, but their new enemy had come in the form of humans, hearts filled with hate for anything and everything related to Dragon kind; even for the regular humans allied to them and living under their protection.

At present, armies were sweeping the land in the chaotic aftermath, burning crops and murdering innocent civilians. Most of whom had come to their Kingdom as refugees fleeing the wild Dragons, understanding that the only ones equipped to defeat them also happened to be ones themselves. Many of the Dragon Slayers had been orphans among these groups. Children too young to remember the monsters that dropped from the sky and murdered their families. Too young to realise their precious adoptive parents were those demons' kin.

There were many Dragon Slayers with regrets. Those were the only ones Braca trusted. If you knew the price to be paid and the truth of their existence, and still sought that power, well, there was something very fucking wrong with you.

"I... I understand all of that. But that doesn't give you the right to throw away their lives," Withering slightly under his hard gaze. "They're my _friends,"_ She half pleaded.

"I know... " He whispered. The cold exterior melting somewhat." You're your mothers daughter. Too soft hearted," He murmured, planting a light kiss on the crown of her skull.

"You weren't calling her soft when she was chasing you round the house with that skillet..." The girl laughed. "Merciless, I think was the word you used."

"Well, there are certainly reasons I married her..." Braca spared a quiet chuckle before tempering himself again. "I wish an end to this war, just like everyone else... and you don't win wars by retreating."

"Then let me fight, too!" Somewhere in their talking she'd grabbed his wrist. "My ice magic is much better than it was, I can help them," But the plea fell short.

"It's not good enough. Compared to a Dragon Slayer it will _never_ be good enough. If I dropped you in that battlefield you'd only get in their way. They'd be as likely to kill you as the enemy," He rasped. His daughters eyes had teared up and he felt a hollow ache in his chest at the half lie that caused it.

He cupped her cheek, wincing as she pulled away from him, wiping her eyes.

"I want better from you, Vita, I want to know your life will be different to mine. That's why I'm fighting. For you! For your future," Braca pulled her back to him gently. "Yours and your mother's are the only fates I can change," He whispered.

"SIR!"

Braca heaved heavy sigh, withdrawing with a snarl.

"What!?" He barked. The Dragon Slayer had yet to develop more than a few obvious scales but he'd figured he had the temper of a Dragon already.

"They've hit some sort of barrier at the warehouse. Some kind of rune shield that they can't get through. The rest of the Dragon Slayers are sitting ducks in that town. You need to call for a retrea...ughhhh,"

Braca took the man off the ground by his throat.

"What I truly need are _better soldiers,_ " He growled and his daughter took several steps back from him. Day by day they lost more of him, more of all of them to the magic they carried. Or maybe to the violence, the bloodshed of war. Vita couldn't tell anymore.

"Dad?" His daughters voice wavered as she spoke. His mood swings were growing worse.

Braca snatched her by the collar and jerked her with him as he walked. The girl letting out a startled yelp.

"You want me to send you out with them, fine, let me show you what you should be expecting."

Braca surveyed the scene from a hill overlooking the town. The Dragon Slayers he'd sent to take out their enemies food stores had been surrounded. Over three hundred berserkers at their rear pinning them between the barrier they couldn't breach and the living weapons their enemy had made to counter them. The closest a human could come to a Dragon Slayer's true savagery without that vile Dragon magic these humans despised so much. Berserkers in these kinds of numbers made for a steep challenge, even for veteran Dragon Slayers.

But like them, Berserkers weren't invincible.

"Get me a canister of black wyvern venom," Braca ordered and the young Dragon Slayer with them blanched.

"... but, there could still be people hiding in that town," He stumbled over his words.

"Don't be a fucking fool. The only people in that town are our men, and our enemy," He snapped.

The man fumbled in bag for the container and reluctantly handed it over.

Braca turned to glare evenly at his daughter.

"Don't you _dare_ look away," He uttered darkly. If she wanted to go to war that badly, he'd show her what she was asking him for.

With greater than human strength Braca hurled the canister overhead, the vessel sailing nearly a hundred feet before smashing amongst the crowd of berserkers releasing a mist that spread, burning their skin away like acid; those that inhaled it died silently, though far from painlessly, capable of only thrashing as the venom devolved their vocal cords, lungs, lips, leaving behind grotesque, fleshless grins.

The acid continued to spread, passing through the injured Dragon Slayers harmlessly. Wyvern venom was their secret weapon. Dragons were close enough to the mindless beasts to be uneffected by the poison, and that was a resistance the Dragon Slayers had all inherited. Not so much for the regular people fighting them, or their berserker mages.

Panicked screams, shrieks sounded from inside the warehouse as the acid drifted unhindered beyond the shield and crept inside.

Braca felt an unfamiliar pain in his chest, a burning ache that put his lungs in a vice. A sudden blinding terror took hold and to his daughter's startled features he bolted from their hiding spot down toward the small town. Feet pounding dirt. Lightheaded with an indescribable fear.

He ran right through the sea of liquefied bodies, blood and gore splashing his legs and soaking his boots before he made it to the warehouse, coliding with the still active barrier and falling to his knees. In his chest, his very soul, there was a painful, festering space and he knew without a shadow of a doubt his wife had been in that building. Hostages. Belserion had mentioned hostages. Told him to withdraw, to cancel the attack. But he hadn't known his wife was among them.

She'd been in there. He knew that with the same certainty that he knew she was dead. That he'd killed her. He'd killed his wife, more than that, his _mate._ Braca barely heard the muttering around him. The man didn't even realise he was wailing; digging his hands into the dirt, screaming like he was giving voice to the army of Berserkers he'd silently just slain.

Inside him, his spirit lay broken. An inescapable guilt poisoning him.

Someone put their hand on his shoulder and Braca snapped, teeth bared he turned, hands now suddenly white granite claws, every tooth a fang, eyes gleaming murder. The Dragon Slayer that had dared to touch him, to check him because he certainly wasn't responding to words, roared as he plunged an open hand straight through her. Blood flowing like a fountain as the life left her eyes, body twitching. When he pulled back his bloody claws the corpse fell to the dirt, unmoving.

The remaining Dragon Slayers stepped back, a group now gathering to hide the sight of their deranged commander from his daughter, the girl trying to push through to see something that they knew would haunt her forever.

She wouldn't forgive them for it, but they also knew they would have to kill him.

There were reasons that Dragon Slayers fell in love and got married, but never exposed their partners to their Dragon Slayer magic. Kept it out of their relationships completely, no matter the urge to bond with them like their Dragons did with their chosen halfs.

Losing a wife, or a husband, a daughter or a son, that was painful. An unimaginable grief.

But losing a mate... that was downright _dangerous._


	2. Chapter 1

Most of Fiore was outside for the event. The red moon that appeared once every fifty years for a few seconds of blinding red light, illuminating the night sky in colours few would even be able to name; a burst of colour that old people still warned would burn the eyes out of your skull if you watched it directly. Fiore still celebrated it with a festival, though modern times treated it as an excuse to get drunk outdoors and eat food till you got sick. In Fiore, the celestial event used to be celebrated as a religious holiday. The old scriptures marking the blinding red moon as a sign of the gods exiling evil from the land. The moon a portal it would periodically be banished through as a gift to mankind.

But those were just stories. Old superstition. Depending on where in Fiore you were, some stories would even say the opposite, that the red moon didn't mark the banishment of evil... rather it's entry.

But it was all rubbish. The moon was just the moon. And the magical light was just discharged energy from the setting of the sun while certain stars aligned. All very scientific.

But thousands of years later, one excuse for a party was as good as any other. Traditionally, if it fell during a warm evening people often held barbeques; the traditional blood moon barbeque.

Mira had been planning Fairy Tails for a month, praying for good weather and a clear sky. The last time this had happened Makarov had been a younger man, and he told them there'd been heavy overcast and no one that side of Fiore had seen a damn thing but slightly pink cloud.

The white haired demon must have been owed favors because all the weather reports were saying that this time round, they'd have a cloudless night sky.

"Do you think Gajeel will turn up?"

Levy pulled her nose out of the novel she was only half reading to blink stupidly at Lucy.

"Free food and alcohol, why wouldn't he?"

Lucy snorted, eyebrow raised.

"Well, you're in charge of decorating, so you _have_ to be there, and I thought you said he was avoiding you these days?" Lucy asked.

Levy sighed, putting her book away. This was going to be one of those conversations that spiralled away with the time. She could feel it.

"He's not _avoiding_ me... he just...I give him his space," Levy replied.

"Aha! So you're avoiding _him!_ " Lucy pointed a finger accusingly at her. A lavacious grin pulling dangerously at her face.

"Don't be so dramatic, no one is avoiding anyone," Levy realised she might have been pouting and frowned at her blonde friend for dragging her into this conversation to begin with.

"Do you want me to start asking why you complain about Natsu sneaking in through your bedroom window every night, and it never _once_ occurs to you to close it?" Levy shot Lucy a suggestive look. "Almost as if you like it?"

Lucy held up her hands.

"I solemnly swear to never mention it again...just keep your voice down before Míra catches wind," Lucy pleaded with a snort. She'd never hear the end of it.

Levy checked the time.

"So what are you doing for the party?" Lucy had heard a couple of conflicting stories from members of the decorating committee Erza had helped set up.

"The guys want an outdoor karaoke competition so I offered to help set up the stage..." Levy said, happy that Lucy wasn't talking about her and Gajeel's relationship anymore. Or rather, the absence of anything of the kind in this case; it would have been a stretch to have even called them friends. In the time since he joined, they'd barely spoken.

Levy _herself_ wasn't even quite sure she was ready to move passed having the crap kicked out of her and being crucified. The occasional nightmare left her waking abruptly, sweaty and with the memory of his calloused fingers harshly tracing the phantom lord symbol on her abdomen. A cruel, somewhat manic grin plastered across an altogether uncaring face. The only reason she even gave him the time of day was a deep sense of professional courtesy.

With streamers and balloons conjured, Levy found herself supervising a very easy to direct Elfman with the stage assembly.

"Can you hoist it a little higher, Elfman?" Levy asked, using solid script magic to materialise the supports underneath the floor of the enormous new stage. Natsu climbing it immediately only to jump up and down on it in some ridiculous attempt to test its structural integrity.

"Lookin' good, Lev!" He called down to her, two thumbs up in approval.

"Will you get down, it hasn't been secured yet," She shouted back and Natsu hopped down smirking.

Her conversation with Lucy still fresh on her mind, Levy took sudden note of Gajeel watching them all and pretending not to; the man noisily chewing on something that rang like steel between his teeth. _Stupid Lucy! Stupid bloody Gajeel, too!_ Were the only thoughts she could formulate at the minute.

The next strut she made too hastily, and the damn thing ended up a few inches short of the rest, a corner of the stage sagging a little when Elfman let it down again.

"Oh... _shit!"_ She muttered, her head swivelling like a dolls in Gajeel's direction, swearing she heard him laugh.

"Don't worry, Levy, moon is coming out, we can fix it later! Come on!" Elfman said, excitedly moving off in the direction of the others who'd started gathering on the grass behind the guild. Eager faces waiting for the red moon. Makarov was among them but even he hadn't seen the last one.

"Be there in a second," She said with a smile. It was an easy fix, the struts visible and exposed without skirting, with plenty of space to manoeuvre underneath. It wouldn't take her more than a minute.

She pouted a little to realise she didn't even need to crawl under it, only bend. She was _really_ that small.

Gripping the support she traced the word 'grow' on its surface satisfied as it lengthened to the correct proportions. There were a sudden chorus of happy, awe filled exclamations from the others and she stood upright in her rush to see the moon, hitting her head somewhat painfully, she grit her teeth in frustration as the others started clapping and laughing signalling the end of the brief spectacle and a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness the celestial event, sacrificed for absolutely _no_ reason.

Levy punched one of the struts wincing at the painful ache it left in her hand.

"I'm a _moron,"_ She whined out loud.

It would have been just as easy to wait a few minutes, come back afterward. What the hell was wrong with her priorities? Levy felt like pulling out her hair in frustration. Her focus was just all over the place.

She even might have done that, if suddenly she hadn't felt the stage shift. The structure rock in a way that made her gulp. It would have been tempting to think her little punch did it but she knew it wasn't that. Under her feet a vibration had started building up, growing until she found standing up straight difficult. Levy reached for one of the supports and held on for dear life.

"EARTHQUAKE!" She heard Erza yell from the crowd still sitting in the grass and barely an instant later the stage slipped off its incompletely attached supports, collapsing in on her. A chain reaction rippling from the edge of the far side and moving in.

Something hard hit as she was swallowed in the darkness, the wind knocked clean out of her. Cracking an eye open she found herself blind but the whisper of breath across her face and the feeling of being pinned spoke volumes about how she'd survived being crushed by a falling stage.

'LIGHT' She traced in the air with a free finger, about the only thing she could move, and almost wished she hadn't as she found red eyes inches from hers, Gajeel staring down at her, expression something close to embarrassed as he realised he couldn't move either, all but crushed to the tiny mage under him, iron flesh the only thing taking the weight above them and preventing a very squishy, very messy death. She cast her vision to the side and saw that he was propped on his elbows, arms either side of her head, the length of his body pressed _hard_ between her legs, crushed by the weight above.

"Oh... _wow_ this is awkward," Was all she found she could say as red hot fire burned its way across her cheeks.

"I'd...crack a joke if this didn't fuckin' hurt so much," Gajeel wheezed, barely able to draw breath to laugh, legs going numb, but Levy was close enough to see the quick upturn in his mouth and glint in his eyes that told her that he might _not_ have been as uncomfortable as he made it seem.

She tried to move, wriggle and work her way out from underneath him but his gaze seemed to narrow and she felt something new press against her.

 _"Really?"_ She growled low, absolutely unimpressed to find herself in this new, even more embarrassing predicament. "We almost got crushed to death?"

"You're squirming like a fish down there, ain't as if I can help it," Gajeel said unapologetically though he looked away, avoiding eye contact for the minute.

 _"Pervert..._ " Levy grumbled.

"Yeah, well next time I let the stage fall on yah, how 'bout that?" He bit back. "I just saved your ass from becoming a Fairy fucking pancake, maybe you.. should be.. _thanking me_ ," He struggled with the weight between breaths before he seemed to resign himself to the reality that he just wasn't able to lift it alone.

Levy stilled. Gajeel _had_ saved her life. _Gajeel._ She couldn't fathom why he'd even been close enough, when everyone else had been watching the moon from the grass. Close enough to see her predicament and swoop in to her rescue.

"You're right... "Levy admitted with no small measure of shame. She'd shown him the opposite of gratitude." Thank you.." She restrained herself from moving all that much. "You know, I could probably make something I can enlarge to lift it off us," She said thoughtfully.

"I wouldn't recommend shiftin' this thing. I'm holdin' it up only cause it's still in one piece. This thing breaks up, we're both screwed," Gajeel said and she took his word on it.

"Okay, well I can at least take some of the weight off you," Skilled fingers moved and two new supports formed beside them. Gajeel sighed in relief, all but collapsing down on her before realising their risqué position and pushing himself up again.

"What about your magic?"

"Presently keepin' nails outta my kidneys and my legs from gettin' crushed ," Gajeel groaned somewhat amusingly. "Just my luck for drinkin'," He looked Levy in the eye. Alcohol free he might have had the ability to work the structure off them carefully, but as it stood, he'd more than likely just drop the thing on their heads. "Sorry, short stuff, we're here till they dig us out."

"How long do you think before they get to us?" She couldn't quite keep the tremor of fear out of her voice, a silent 'or notice we're gone' hanging unspoken.

"If it were just me, I'd probably be sayin' my prayers right about now but _you_ they'll actually look for, so doubt it'll be long," He smiled like that was funny.

"Don't say that like they wouldn't be looking for you, too," Levy said, mildly offended at the implication that they'd value one member over another. That her life was intrinsically more important.

"Hey, don't take that the wrong way, they're _right,"_ Gajeel said with authority. A comment that made Levy honestly furious.

She started wriggling and squirming again and Gajeel groaned, Levy couldn't tell if it was exasperation or something else. For a brief flash of temper she reckoned she no longer cared.

"What the _hell?_ " He grit out. "Quit it! What the fuck are yah tryin' to do to me, woman?"

"I'm getting out of here so I can _kick your ass,_ Gajeel Redfox!"

The entire stage _rattled_ he laughed so hard, caught entirely off guard by the sentiment. He honestly had never thought she would be this much of a spitfire.

"Is that so?" He asked her trying to catch his breath.

She puffed out her cheeks, now flaming red for a whole other reason. Putting her hands against his chest she pushed with everything she had but as stubborn as she was there was no way him or the stage were budging.

Levy gave up with a miserable sigh, pulling her hands back sharply when she realised she'd let them linger against toned muscle just a little too long.

"You're _wrong_ about them. If you really thought they were like that, you wouldn't have joined. You're a good person, " Levy was firm. Now it was Gajeel's turn to look a little put out. As though being good were in actuality a bad thing.

"Seem pretty sure about that, shrimp," There was a dark flicker growing in his gaze, something that left her insides fluttering. Fear... excitement? She couldn't be sure but it made her heart start racing. "Good people don't inspire fear," He warned, lowering his head just a fraction closer into her already limited personal space. He was toying with her. Despite knowing that with certainty his presence was intimidating at best.

"Who says I'm afraid?" She fired back with all the backbone she could muster.

Gajeel made a show of dipping his head to her shoulder and breathing deep. A move that made her yelp in shock.

"No point lying, I can smell it," He pulled back smirking at the tremor that ran through her at that.

"Well, I'm trapped under a falling stage, inches from being crushed to death... not entirely unexpected, you know!"

"I think that's a lie," He bit out stubbornly.

It was at that exact point in time that she knew he might have possibly been punishing himself. This was his attempt to push her away. _Make_ her afraid. Lily was the only one he was close with. And she now understood that maybe that was because he'd never seen the old Gajeel. Gajeel was ashamed and had absolutely no idea how to cope with his past. Levy felt pity for him suddenly.

Whatever Gajeel had been thinking, or thinking about doing died when her lips met his cheek. Red eyes bulging with shock, he pulled back so fast he hit his head hard on the wood above him.

Levy narrowed her eyes, a victorious grin pulling at her mouth.

"Tell me I'm afraid of you, now, _dumbass,_ " She challenged him with a smile while he hovered above her, blinking like a startled owl. Caught off-guard by the odd, and very unexpected response to what he would consider as blatant intimidation.

"Ehhh.. " Was all he was able to say while oxygen starved parts of Levy's normally sharp brain began kicking into gear to remind her, that yes, she _had_ just done that. And just to prove a point, too. Who exactly was she these days?

Gajeel was silent, and for a long, arduous second Levy was genuinely concerned, but his attention had shifted from her and the collapsed stage started to groan around them, the wood came away, splintering into a thousand pieces, freeing them from the oppressive, crushing weight. Instantly she recognised Gildart's crash magic.

"Oh thank _Mavis,"_ Levy muttered in thanks as Gajeel hastily rolled himself off her. Getting her first greedy gulp of fresh, cool air. The back of his shirt and trousers were ripped pretty badly.

"LEVY! Are you okay?"

The script mage looked at Gajeel's back as he beat a hasty retreat, there was a smile trying to force its way through at the thought of him. She barely held in check.

"Yeah.. _we're_ okay."


	3. Chapter 2

It wasn't right.

Of all the multitude of things Jan could have thought at a time like this, that thought rattled out louder than the rest. More prevalent than anger. Clearer than fear. _Confusion._ Disbelief. Mages fought amongst themselves all the time. Guilds went to war. But for the most part, regular people were left out of it. Mages didn't generally target normal folk, not without something to gain.

It was all so hard to comprehend. She wasn't wealthy. There were no great powers she possessed or knowledge she harbored. The only thing she'd ...

A breathless wail broke passed her lips. Her clothes were bloody, some of it was hers, but most of it was from her husband; the man torn apart in front of her, ribs split like an animal in the slaughterhouse, murdered in an act of absolute horror and savagery that she was still too shocked to process; her memory was a hazy blur, probably lying for the best. Numbness and confusion were all she was capable of right now. Too exhausted to even be properly afraid.

For all the little she'd had to her name: her tiny house and her garden, a job making clay ornaments at her kiln, and a husband who worshipped her, in moments, all of that was gone. Her shop, home, in flames and her garden of petunias, a place of death, its image forever tarnished with blood and the memory of screams she now knew were her own. It was so strange how quickly her whole world had been torn down; left with absolutely nothing, and as running became more and more exhausting, the panic associated with her predicament waned.

Jan couldn't quite place the moment she resigned herself to the idea that at thirty two she was going to die, but when she did land on the solemn thought it no longer frightened her. She'd be with Malcolm again, wouldn't she? Would that be so bad? No more worrying about money and whether or not they'd make ends meat that week or month.

When she started slowing down the cobbles of the bridge into Magnolia were wavering in her vision. She hadn't lost that much blood, and she would have thought it was shock but for the burning pain in her very blood. An agony unlike anything she'd experienced, worse than the pain of the child she'd lost, cut through her and sent her tumbling. Jan landed awkwardly, feeling something in her wrist give way, but she couldn't move, paralysed by limbs that had turned to lead. Her entire body suddenly too heavy to lift.

The slow, purposeful steps were now gaining on her. Her doom wasn't running. It wasn't chasing her. Rather following cautiously, _lazily._ A knowing walk _._ It was confident in it's belief. It _knew_ it would catch her.

The fever in her blood got steadily worse. Unbearable enough to mask the fact that the figure had already appeared to watch her struggle. Her, silent, thrashing body just feet beyond the city lights illuminating the bridge. Just out of reach of any possible aid.

"I... don't know why you ran," A male voice muttered despairingly at her side. The red soaked figure crouched down, staring at her with a vague disappointment on his features. It was clear he, because she could see it had once been a man, was just as bewildered by her. "Do you not... recognise me?" It asked sadly. Glancing down at inhuman claws miserably. There was still threads of gore and clothing dangling from the tips. A reminder of his crimes.

"Y-You...murdered my Malcolm. He...didn't... deserve..." Jan's voice broke and she locked eyes with her killer. "I _loved_ him," Her gaze was steady. In that moment the truth of what she was trying to convey slunk in passed the wall of madness her monster seemed to reside behind.

Like a light switch had gone off in his brain, he let out a panicked breath, withdrawing from her immediately.

"You're... _not her._.." He whispered, breaking inside, again and again, moment by moment. Anguish so overwhelming on his monstrous visage that even Jan felt something _close_ to pity beneath the pain. But a white hot, soul shaking rage quickly surged in behind that temporary air of vulnerability, and slit like eyes narrowed. "... _Not her_!" The words came out a snarl as it extended a claw to her. Jan flinched as best she could as it pierced skin and tore it's way down her cheek and neck, blood flowing freely as it traced a path to the wound in her shoulder. Prodding the blackening, festering wound with distain. The bite mark flooding her with poison.

 _"Liar!"_ He ground out hatefully.

When the couple out for a romantic moonlight stroll turned onto the bridge they saw it beating its claws into the cooling corpse. The body of the person was unrecognizable, skull and chest almost completely caved in. Mutilated beyond any and all hopes of identification.

In the faint light, a hopeful gaze looked up at them, eyes gleaming yellow in the dark before moving forward at a crawl on all fours.

The pair of women turned came to their senses and backed away with a scream when they noticed it. The sight was incomprehensible but from the things mouth hung half a face. Torn up and bloody. Peeled from a mulched skull and caught between impossibly sharp fangs. Yellow eyes locking on the women, suddenly soft as it let the skin fall to the cobbles. A sight more terrifying than anything either of them could imagine.

"You always love to make me run," The beast said jovaly. "But I _always catch you."_

* * *

"In fifteen fucking years my cards have never been _this_ consistent to be wrong!"

Cana shuffled the deck again in Makarov's office. For almost two days, the two days since the blood moon the same cards just kept repeating. She thought she'd lost the plot entirely, enough to make her stop drinking altogether; in the unlikely likely event that maybe, just maybe this time her obsession with alcohol had started having an effect on her magic. Her father had women. She had booze. It wasn't the drinking screwing up her habitual weekly draws ...and the cards were terrifyingly persistent. The Ten of Swords, The Devil, and Death reversed.

Those three cards on their own always looked frightening but rarely meant what people assumed. Together however they spelled something bad. And they'd been drawn not only together, but in the same order. A deep sense of fear and forboding accompanied them, and something strangely dark, inevitable. The first few times it left her hands shaking too badly to even reshuffle the deck; they were a sign of suffering, of darkness encroaching, evil and savagery without foreseeable end.

She took a shot of whiskey from Makarov to steady her nerves and reshuffled for the fifth redraw in as many minutes to prove to him just how much of an issue this was. This time the first three cards she turned were the ones she dreaded seeing the most. The forth made Makarov flinch.

"Well that doesn't look good," He tapped the fouth card and Cana sat back in her chair.

"The Tower... in _this_ hand, this is the overturning of order. Upheaval of the system...change, and _not_ the good kind," She pointed at Makarov's bottle and he took back her glass to pour but she shook her head. "Gimme it, old man! A glass won't cut it."

The guild master frowned, he knew she wouldn't leave a drop and it had been a gift, but the woman was still shaking and it appeared like she hadn't slept in two days. Not since the moon; or the earthquake that came with it.

"I don't think what's in this bottle will solve your problems," Makarov reasoned with her.

"Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Only one way to be sure," She smiled at him, despair haunting her eyes, snatching the liqueur out of his hands.

"Your magic has _never_ been this accurate... or specific. You really trust this?" Underneath Makarov's words was the thin veil of suspicion that they were being manipulated. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility. After all, they both knew the cards were rarely this precise. This reliably clear in their message. They generally gave hints of the future. An idea of a changeable fate. This wasn't the usual whisper. The cards were _screaming_ at her.

"I know... it could be crap. It's too odd to be real. But I have this feeling... I get this fucking _horrible_ feeling that they're right. That something bad is happening and we have no idea what," On top of the cards, she'd had nightmares plaguing her, keeping her awake. Wearing on her every conscious moment. Her hands were shaking again and it was that, that swung it for Makarov. She was the daughter of one of the strongest mages to have ever drawn breath. That kind of power was in her blood. He chose to put his faith in that.

"I'll put out a message to all guild members out of town to keep watch and take their time coming home," Makarov let her know. Whatever was coming, was coming to Magnolia. Cana was reading for herself. It might not be directly about her, but was definitely happening near and around.

"Thanks for listening to me..." Cana looked up from the now half empty bottle and gave him a soft smile.

"Let me know if the cards start reading clear or they change. Hopefully... _very_ hopefully, somehow you're wrong, my dear," He said plainly, patting her shoulder.

"No one wants to be wrong more than I do."

She swallowed thickly. The alcohol was doing nothing for her. She'd need more.

"I recommend you try get some sleep... exhaustion won't help anyone," Makarov offered what comfort he could but it was difficult. He felt what she did, now. The dark hand of a terrible fate reaching out to crush them. He took the bottle back and downed a gulp himself.

Cana laughed at him.

"Hey, you anymore bottles of this stuff lying around?" She asked him with a sly wink.

"This was a gift from my old master, it's over a hundred years old!" He guffawed at her before realising she was simply teasing him. "Go home, Cana... before I have Mira _drag_ you!" Makarov half heartedly threatened.

Cana was every inch Gildart's daughter.

* * *

Notes

Wow! Thank you for the reviews! I always start writing wondering if people are going to like it or not.

I'm in the middle of extensive renovations so I'm trimming these chapters so I can update more frequently. For every message and review, follow and fav, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!


	4. Chapter 3

The local authorities were already rounding up people when Levy arrived at the guild that morning. Two coffees in her hands. One of which had an iron nut rattling in the bottom of it, both a thank you and somewhat of an apology for her lack of gratitude before. The woman was now thoroughly convinced that Gajeel's attitude and abrasive personality were almost entirely still prevalent due to a lack of effort on his guildmates behalf. He was mean... and people avoided him because of it.

Levy consciously made the decision to change that. Nearly a year in and it was time to start to get to know the ornery Dragon Slayer. But arriving at the guild she found that Gajeel wasn't there.

Neither was Natsu, or Laxus, Wendy _or_ Elfman. Mira and Lisanna to top it off were gone, too. They'd all been reprimanded by the city guards. Makarov had almost flattened the men when they'd arrived with magic cancelling cuffs to take them. A precautionary measure only, they'd assured him, he very almost sent them running but for the quiet word he'd had with their commander. The all but riotous old man, starkly pale, suddenly now urging them to comply.

Natsu and Gajeel put up the most resistance to being chained. One of the few times the pair agreed on anything. Wendy was completely blank; quiet and stunned. Carla not so much. The Exceed flitting in the commanders face demanding answers; that they remove Wendy's chains. The normally so reserved Exceed practically frantic.

Wendy looked about ready to cry but chose not to resist.

The others though, weren't so obliging.

"Don't fuckin' _touch me!_ " Gajeel snarled, snapping his jaws at them and pulling away from the hand that landed on his shoulder. Lily taking his other arm warningly. These weren't enemy mages, or members of the magic council. These were city guards. Just regular people doing their jobs. After a moment of thought Gajeel finally held out his hands with a dark glare, snarling a series of curses when they then put cuffs on Lily, who of course immediately shrunk to his smaller size without magic, the cuffs slipping off comically.

The guards at a loss on how to restrain the Exceed tied him up with rope. Lily wasn't concerned. They weren't strong enough to actually hold him, but they did succeed in comforting the guards.

"We won't resist," Lily said calmly reassured them, shooting a sobering look Gajeel's way; he was quite possibly the _only_ one Gajeel would actually listen to.

Natsu on the other hand seemed unwilling to listen to _anyone._ The guards had been left with two ruined, melted beyond recognition set of manacles before they asked Makarov to directly intervene. Natsu's fire destroying their restraints before they could even be fastened to block his magic.

 _"Boy!_ Cut it out before I _knock_ you out!" Makarov said seriously and Natsu reluctantly allowed himself to be restrained. His fire vanishing. The world suddenly a cold, empty place encroaching on him without that fire in his veins. But it wasn't completely gone. At his core he could feel it bubbling and boiling like lava. He reminded himself that this was temporary. Makarov wouldn't be allowing it otherwise.

Carraiges took them to the guardhouse. An old building with yellowing wallpaper splotched with faded unidentifiable shapes and patterns and a smell of faint mildew. They were led in, single file to find that the guard hadn't just targeted their specific guild. The building was _overflowing_ with mages. Some were simply passing through town. Others were unaffiliated with any official guild, and just living in Magnolia with alternative professions.

"What in heavens is going on?" Carla muttered out loud. Clutched like a comforter in Wendy's overly tight grip.

Mira was looking around with a scrutinising eye.

"I don't know... but everyone here has some kind of animal or transformation magic," She noticed. "She's a beast master mage," She pointed at a short haired woman in a soil stained sweater; their local landscaper. The woman had turned her skill with moles into a regular profession. Mira gestured to another. "Shape-shifting magic. He can pretty much take any form. He's from Sabertooth, visiting his sick brother. Nice guy, " Mira had taken and shared a few transformation spells with him. He was naturally gifted. She looked at the others. "Dragon Slayers, three takeover mages, and an Exceed with a beast battle form," She said without stuttering.

"Excellent reasoning skills, Ms Strauss," A feminine voice rasped from the nearest hall doorway. A small sickly looking woman with a tight bun and sharp dark eyes was scrutinising them while Mira was evaluating the situation. "You're exactly right," The uniformed woman said before stepping passed them without an introduction, ignoring the glares and angry muttering from the crowd. After wandering into the center of the main room she pulled out a chair and stood on it so everyone could see and hear her.

"I understand you're confused and angry..."She drew a breath and pulled a picture from a file clutched under her arm. A photograph that silenced everyone there. "... but last night five people were murdered. Not simply killed...they were torn apart," She pulled out another photo and waved it in the air before letting it drop. A quick glance at the image was all it took for those close enough to see it, to start retching The mages withdrawing from the sight of the pulverised corpse, moving back even as others came forward to look. Their curiosity getting the better of them.

 _"That_ was Janette Hennessy," She growled out, voice wavering. Another picture was pulled and let drop in similar fashion. "This was her husband, Malcolm Hennessy," And another. "Local couple Aga and Michaela..." One more photo was pulled then. "... And we're fairly sure this _might_ be Robert Carmichael..."

"Whatdya mean _fairly sure?"_ Gajeel couldn't hold his tongue anymore. He'd seen some dark things in his time, but nothing like this. Animal's killed and ate, but this wasn't that. Even from photos he could see rage in the killings.

"Well, Mr Redfox, when we've pulled the rest of him out of the trees and pieced his face back together, _we'll know for sure,_ " She said snarkily, her supervisor, the captain of the city guard put his head in his hands at her attitude. Gajeel however went utterly silent.

"And you think one of us did this? Could be _capable_ of this?" Lisanna spoke out disbelievingly in the dead silence that followed.

"You should know more than anyone else how wrong spells can go..." The officers gaze switched briefly to Elfman. "How dangerous animal based magic can be. What we're presently doing is eliminating suspects. There were handprints left behind from whatever, whoever did this, so there's a few of you we can clear straight away. The more cooperation we get, the faster this gets done and the sooner we find the responsible party," Her words held weight behind them. Whoever had done that wasn't evil, they weren't bad people. They were _ill._ Violently, nauseatingly sick.

"You heard the woman, line up!" Elfman yelled and were once there was arguing there was only complacent silence as people reformed in orderly lines.

The officer picked her way back from her makeshift podium toward them and unlocked Elfman'and Wendy's cuffs. Much to Míra and Carla's relief.

"Too big," She announced to Elfman before looking at Wendy with a smile. _"Faaar_ too small!" She snickered at Wendy's disagreeable pout.

Behind her lines of officers were going around checking people's left hands against a life size replica, a reproduction taken from the scene. The claws on it were twice as long as Gajeel's even, and he had the longest among the Dragon Slayers. But while the claws might vanish, they reasoned the general size of the palm and length of the fingers would probably remain either the same or very similar. Elfman had hands like spades and Wendy's were very small, even for a young girl.

Slowly they began to eliminate people. First by checking their hands, then by whereabouts the night before. For the most part people could account for their movements and had witnesses that could verify. Either a take out driver delivering their pizza or a friend or family member. In fact, out of everyone in the guard house, only Gajeel and two others couldn't accurately account for themselves. The two others simply didn't have anyone who could vouch for them. Gajeel however, simply refused to disclose his location. To the wide eyed horror of Lily who knew he'd been out but had expected him to fire back with a location and time, rather than "I went for a fucking walk!". Which happened to be exactly what Gajeel's told them. Alone. At night. No proof.

"The whole point about goin' on a quiet walk is to get away from people," He shot back.

"That's not good enough to let you leave here!" The officer came back at him, her eyes in the dim lighting looked at him with almost predatory focus.

"Sounds like you're lookin' for a reason to let me go," Gajeel laughed at the put out look on her face. She was tired. They'd been interviewing and examining people all day and it showed in her exasperated frown.

"And _you're_ looking for a reason to stay..." Gajeel glanced away and she leaned her elbows on the table, shifting forward. They'd been at this same back and forth for hours. _"Listen,_ I know your past is _complicated..._ fucking hell, your file is so thick I didn't even get further than half way, but I don't honestly think you did this, and the longer you waste my time the further away from the killer I get!" She looked at him pleadingly. " So, please, just tell me the truth!"

Gajeel looked very much like he wanted to say something but his voice seemed to vanish. His mouth opened and closed just as quick.

In the terse and awkward silence between them there was a knock on the door. A thin haired older man popped his head in.

"Móira...I mean lieutenant Saggart, a word?" She winced as he slipped, calling her by her first name before hastily correcting himself.

"I'll be back!" She said before leaving.

Gajeel checked quickly for recording equipment before letting his face drop into his hands with a quiet groan. Calloused fingers tugged painfully at his scalp in the dim hope the pain could refocus him and prevent him from anymore stupidity.

He... was an absolute _idiot._

When the door opened again, Saggart looked even more unhappy than when she'd left. A difficult thing to accomplish.

Walking around the table she reached forward with a key and unlocked Gajeel's cuffs with a hard, unimpressed line where her mouth was.

"You're free to go," She bit out, not giving him a chance to speak, turning away as Gajeel stiffly followed, intentionally bumping her as he passed her at the door. When he'd passed her, Saggart turned to her waiting colleague with a pain filled _"owww!"_ clutching her shoulder. "What a fucking _asshole!"_ She growled.

"Pity being an asshole isn't illegal," He barked a laugh in reply.

"Remains to be seen. The girl's story is _crap._ Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's our killer, but he's still no alibi... and I _really_ don't like liars," Saggart rumbled.

Out in the waiting area Levy found herself wringing her hands, her heart pounding, mouth so dry the air burned her throat with every breath.

She'd joked about not recognising herself but this was too much. The woman with the bun and the shark eyes glared at her from behind a confused looking Gajeel like she knew everything Levy had told them was completely false. But Levy was a Fairy Tail mage and she wouldn't show her panic.

It was a very good thing Saggart couldn't see Gajeel's face because seeing how startled he suddenly appeared as Levy linked arms with him to walk outside would have revealed just how thickly Levy had spread that lie; that he'd spent the evening with _her._ The script mage couldn't come to grips with why she'd lied for a man she truthfully, barely actually knew. He'd saved her life, but this hadn't saved anyone, only potentially landed them both in very hot water.

"What the fuck did you _do!?"_ Gajeel's snarled at her once they were clear of the authorities, his booted feet were pointed ding the footpath so hard Levy thought the stone might crack.

When they were far enough away he stopped sharply, pulling her by her elbow into darkness and out of sight.

"Gave you an alibi..." She replied bravely.

"That's literally the dumbest, _stupidest_ fuckin' thing you coulda done _!"_ He wiped at his face, shaking his head to banish the facts from his mind. Giving him an alibi only put her under scrutiny but it made a blatant liar out of her.

"They were going to _arrest_ you!" Levy blurted out, unsure why they were both suddenly so angry.

"It ever cross your mind they might have the right guy?"

Levy stepped closer to him.

"I don't believe that for a _second,"_ She said with conviction. The entire town was now a buzz with news of the murders. Those poor people dead for no reason. But Levy knew enough about Gajeel to know that while he might have been capable of a lot of bad things, nothing remotely close to this, and there was generally a specific reason for them. These murders were opportunistic, and even at Gajeel's worst he'd only _painted_ that Phantom Lord logo on her skin when he could have branded it. She _knew_ he didn't commit these crimes.

"I kept you out of _jail!"_ Her tone came out indignant. She'd expected gratitude.

 _"And?_ _Newsflash_ you stupid _little girl..._ maybe I didn't pin you high enough to that tree to sink in long term, but it ain't exactly my first time in a cell...probably won't be the last..." A slap rang out in the emptiness of the night. Gajeel's rebuke died on his lips. Tears welling in Levy's eyes; half of it was raw emotion...the other half actual pain. Slapping Gajeel's face had fucking _hurt._

"Don't you _dare_ patronise me!" She sucked in a breath to steady herself. "I'm _not_ some little girl...you can't threaten and bully _me."_

It didn't look like she'd hurt him, overall, Gajeel was just _shocked._ Way more on his mind now than this morning when he'd woken up. He hadn't expected Levy to have such a _very_ quick swing. All he could do was grunt his displeasure at her, rendered temporarily speechless by the slap.

"Maybe people wouldn't hate you so much if..." He came to his senses enough to draw himself up to his full height, interrupting her statement.

 _"If...what?"_ Gajeel growled low, now stepping toward her. He lifted his hand as if he meant to wrap it around her neck but he hesitated. Letting it hover like a silent threat. A look of utter, unflinching defiance in her eyes.

She prodded him sharply in the chest.

"If you weren't such an _asshole_ to them," She ground out. It was ridiculous how much her hand was still stinging after slapping him but she focused on that sting to distract from the fact that he did have an effect on her. He could intimidate her and she knew it. She suspected he did, too.

Gajeel laughed. Not in humour. Not in joy. He sounded almost like he was giving up. It was a despairing thing to hear.

"Well, I _am_ an asshole, shrimp!" He shrugged. "Take it or leave it!"

Levy growled at his ultimatum. Gajeel had to know how frustrating he was being.

"I...you've saved my life _twice_ this year," Levy couldn't believe she was trying to reason with him on this. "I'm not giving up on you. Friends don't do that."

"Yeah, and I suppose you think that cancels out the time I almost killed yah!" He said, voice heavy with sarcasm. "So what, you're gonna save _me,_ now _?"_ He levelled an even glare at her. "How the hell is someone so fuckin' _naive_ still breathin'?"

Gajeel didn't see the knee that hit him square in the balls and sent him to his knees.

" _Constant underestimation_ ," Levy whispered, finally turning to walk away, angry beyond words and so unaware of everything else but her temper she missed the smirk on Gajeel's face, present even through the haze of pain.

"Apparently..." He muttered to himself. "... p _ointy fucking knees, too_..." Gajeel said, coughing.

He lay there in the dark while the cathedral bell rang in the distance. It was only nine o'clock at night but it may as well have been two in the morning for all the life out. People retreating indoors in the wake of the grizzly crimes.

He could understand that. You'd have to be a lunatic to be wandering the streets at a time like this. Or a Dragon Slayer.

Or a Script Mage with little to no sense of self preservation storming off, obvious to the world. He knew he'd have to get up and go after her. The thought hurt him more that the knee he'd just taken to the jewels. His body healed faster than his pride, after all.

He groaned sucking in a breath to calm himself down and his stomach turned. Gajeel bolted to his feet at the stench of death and blood on the wind. Old decay. Fear. Rotting flesh. He'd have gotten sick himself if they'd have bothered feeding him during his seven hour long interview. He looked in the direction Levy had travelled and started running.

At the end of the street, his ears picked up a scream in the distance. One he was all too familiar with. A surge of panic gripping him harder than he'd ever experienced before. Crushing his lungs in his chest like a vice.

Gajeel raced off into the night.


	5. Chapter 4

Not even the fact that the blood he'd smelled wasn't hers could quell the feeling of dread gnawing at him; an extra sense worrying at him like a bone.

Gajeel's feet splashing on the pavement told him he'd reached his destination. It hadn't rained that week and from the smell, the viscous feeling under him, it _wasn't_ water he'd stepped in.

The photos were bad, but it wasn't possible to get a true sense of the rage and the madness, the _carnage_ until you were standing in it, death soaking into your boots and staining the bottom of your jeans. Nostrils ablaze with the stench of fear and gore. Gajeel's could feel the bile start creeping up his throat as he tried swallowing. There was evidence of of the murder on shop windows. On walls. Even splashes of it on the far side of the street. They'd run and the creature had followed.

This had _not_ been an easy death.

And then there was Levy McGarden, spread out on her ass, blood staining her hands and clothes, her dress soaking it up like a yellow sponge; the red wet stain rising through the cloth.

She was thankfully unhurt, and from the looks of it, more than likely had stumbled into this and tripped in shock. But there she was, sitting, frozen at the epicentre. Gajeel followed her eyeline and fell on the same thing she'd decided to focus on. A bodyless eye sitting there on the pavement, staring at her. The face it had once belonged to, nowhere to be seen.

He'd have told her to get up and get a grip if he hadn't felt the pull to join her; his legs were swiftly turning to jelly.

If there hadn't been a disgarded purse, a heeled shoe left on the roadside, Gajeel would never in a million years have even been able to identify this as having once been a woman.

When his body started to work he took a single step forward.

 _"Levy?"_ He spoke her actual name, no nicknames this time, his own voice trembling. She turned slowly to look at him. Her expression was blank and when it was clear she wasn't intending to move, he held out his hand to help her up, frowning at how cold her fingers were when she accepted the gesture. "You're in shock," He explained, leading her out of the scene, his own care, gentleness was equally as startling to him as her lack of tears or panic. The dead calm that had settled on her.

Once her line of sight had been broken away from the scene in front of her she started coming round and suddenly Gajeel found himself tightly captured in small arms, her face buried into his chest, smearing blood on his jacket while she shook. He let his arms drop and fall carefully around her shoulders. Giving comfort was as unfamiliar as it was uncomfortable for him. He'd been trapped once by one of Juvia storms while she cried and he was left unhappily, clumsily patting her on the head in an effort to get her to stop. It was awkward, patronising then, too, and she was as close a friend as you got in Phantom Lord. This situation was different, though.

He basked in the warmth, the contact as much as she did, as difficult as that was to admit he welcomed the calm it brought him. The need to know that the whole world hadn't just lost its damn mind.

Levy had been very fortunate not to have arrived while the murder was taking place and the authorities weren't far behind them. Saggart had had Gajeel followed. Sensing a lie and unable to let it go, she'd had the pair trailed, searching for answers to her still half formed questions.

Well, Gajeel no longer needed an alibi for the other night.

"Miss, we'll... need your clothes," The officer couldn't hide the awkward blush on his cheeks. Even as Levy blinked, incomprehensibly.

"They need your dress and shoes, shrimp," Gajeel had been involved with law enforcement enough times to know that their own mages would need to go over everything with a fine tooth comb.

Levy looked down at herself. The guild was on the other side of the city, her apartment and a change of clothes with it.

Gajeel saw the panic on her face, wheels turning in her head. There were a million jabs, jokes or insults he could have fired at the drop of a hat at the look of torture on her face, but maybe he wasn't the meanest creature around, because he just didn't have that in him. There was too much now rattling in his mind.

Levy glanced up as a shirtless Gajeel offered her the black coloured garment with an impatient expression on his face, slipping the arm of his coat back over his naked shoulders.

She opened her mouth to speak; the customary polite first refusal, but he interrupted her.

"I don't live far..." He growled.

It would have been proper to turn down the offer, but Levy knew she needed it.

"Thank you!" The way she looked at him left his insides squirming. Eyes sincere, filled with warmth and something bright that made his chest ache.

 _"Gajeel!"_ Lily's sudden appearance was singly the best thing he could have asked for. Breaking the tense atmosphere forming between them. "What's happened?" The Exceed's face fell as the scene came into view. "By the... _Gods!"_ He rasped in horror, his attention falling on the pair of them. Levy clad in nothing but Gajeel's shirt, hanging like a dress off her frame while she clumsily tried taking her shoes off.

"They'd to take it for evidence," Gajeel explained under Lily's scrutiny.

"She can't go walking barefoot across town in one of your ratty shirts," Lily said, eyes narrowed in judgement, daring Gajeel to contradict him. "She can come back to ours to wash up and I'll call Erza to bring her some clean clothes and notify Makarov," The Exceed very well knew that Gajeel probably would have let her walk back barefoot in his shirt, not alone of course, but bloodied and exposed for all the world to see. The man just hadn't a clue, really.

 _"Fine,"_ Gajeel growled at his friend, teeth clenched.

"Mr Redfox, we'll...need your jacket... pants and boots, too,"

There was the briefest twitch of a smile on Levy's face at Gajeel's stream of curses. She couldn't find it in her to laugh, but, she came very close.

Clad in just his boxers, with Levy wearing his shirt and Lily leading them via the quietest route, they made it to Gajeel and the Exceed's apartment. Two bedrooms. Modest. Clean. Sparsely decorated. It looked almost as though they'd just moved and hadn't unpacked yet but for the fact that there were no boxes and they'd been living there for almost a year.

"The bathroom is down that hall. Last door. Erza is on her way with some of your things," Lily pointed her off in the direction of the shower while Gajeel went in search of a reasonably clean t-shirt.

Levy was numb. Fatigued and utterly shell shocked. When she closed her eyes, an empty green stare pierced her from the blackness of her own mind. Too many things hit her at once. Could she have saved that woman if she'd been just a minute earlier, would they be cleaning up two crime scenes if she had instead of one.

She caught a sight of herself in the mirror. Dried blood on her face and arms and legs. Gajeel's shirt reached down very almost to the knees, hanging off her narrow shoulders. Honestly, she wasn't sure how long she'd have stayed rooted to that spot without him there to guide her out. Everywhere she looked was pain and blood, so much _blood,_ death.

She didn't let herself linger as long in the shower as she would have otherwise done if she were at home. With wet hands, everywhere she touched she left a red stain on Lily's clean white tiles. It felt all too much like she was soiling something. That she herself had been stained by the event and that corruption was following her. The sight of her own bloody handprint on the shower wall made her want to vomit, so she scrubbed at it with still cold fingers until the shower no longer screamed at the world about the murder it had just rinsed away.

Thankfully, Gajeel was a big guy and the towels were roomy enough to cover her without her feeling too much like she was wandering around the apartment naked.

When she emerged back into the living room Erza rushed her, pulling her into a hug while Gajeel and Lily could be faintly heard arguing from one of the bedrooms.

"Are you alright?" Erza checked her over, concerned.

"I'm fine, just a bit shaken," Levy offered with a small smile.

"They've closed the town for the time being so we're stuck here till morning. But I brought you some clothes and anything I thought you might want," She pulled a few rolled out items from a backpack, offering some underwear and a pyjama set to Levy who eagerly snatched them out of her hands.

She dressed quickly, putting Erza between her and the bedroom that Lily and Gajeel were still arguing in. Happy to have something familiar to wear.

She'd barely got the final button done up when the door opened. Lily emerging. He smiled at them with a sympathetic nod to the room behind them.

"Unfortunately, since my room is too small, you and Levy will have to take Gajeel's..."Lily turned with a tight grin to the Dragon Slayer who looked _furious._ "And Gajeel can take the couch," He said, seeming to delight in the seething fury on his roommates face.

"Thank you!" Erza said, instantly changing into her sleepwear and leading the way. Only Levy caught the strange look on Gajeel's face. He was angry at Lily, but possibly not to do with volunteering his room.

Levy felt herself relax a little. There was comfort in knowing Erza was right there with her, that she was safe...that the only things that could hurt her right now were rolling around in her own head. Sleep didn't come easily, but it did arrive eventually.

Erza wasn't awake, the red head snoring softly, when Levy found herself sitting up panting, fear filled sweat drenching her. Unable to recall the dream that had quickly become a nightmare.

There were no windows in Gajeel's room but the light from underneath his door illuminated the contents enough for her to pick things out even in the blackness. A pile of clothes circling the empty, unused hamper. The guitar resting in the corner. Another of his coats hanging on the back of the door; not out in the shared space, but secreted away in his room. Just like him to keep everything so close to his chest. Even his personal items were hoarded together in this one space. It wasn't even a case of trust. He trusted Lily. Possibly other than Juvia, he was the _only_ one Gajeel trusted.

This was something else. Gajeel didn't like to be noticed. Or watched. Didn't like taking up space either. This was what was left of a man that decided his purpose in life was war, only to end up beaten; to try and prove something and fail in the attempt.

Levy slipped out of the bed and crept from the room. She needed light and air, something cold to drink.

She looked back at Erza and shut the door careful not to wake her but when she turned around she met a red stare from the couch.

"Can't sleep, huh?" Gajeel asked her. It was comical how vastly small the couch looked with him stretched out on it, hands behind his head.

"No. You?"

He cracked a smile that eased her nerves somewhat.

"No, my old fault, though, Lily tried convincin' me to get a better couch," He laughed quietly, suddenly lost in thought. "Most people woulda crapped themselves walkin' in on that..." He glanced away. "You _ain't_ a little girl," Levy's mouth fell open at the frank, earnest admission. It sounded very much like a compliment, an apology even.

Gajeel caught the surprise on her face and huffed.

"Even though I've _hairs_ longer than yah," He teased, stilling when she smiled at him; a moment were it seemed that she forgot the horrors of the evening and they were just two friends teasing each other.

"The length of a man's nose hairs are really _none_ of my business," Levy said sweetly, moving to one of the windows for some much needed air, struggling a little with the window as it resisted her attempts to open it.

Gajeel laughed, and hearing it now told her only that she'd never heard a real one before. No malice, or cruelty. Just good humour. It made her smile.

Unable to go back to sleep, Gajeel sat up and stretched, trying to ease out the kinks in his back and sooth the pain in his legs. For all he would have thought otherwise, Levy wasn't as fragile as she'd otherwise appeared. Though wandering round his apartment in bunny themed flannels didn't add to the misconception.

"Didn't take you for a flannel pyjama kinda woman?" Gajeel cracked another smile.

"I'm _not,_ but Erza obviously just grabbed them in a rush. They were a birthday present from Jet," Levy honestly actually hated them. They were a little big and for anything but the coldest nights they could be stifflingly warm.

"Where were you the other night, anyway?" She asked him, the question jarring enough to make him jerk upright a little.

"I was beatin' the crap outta some local drunks," He said almost too eager.

"I may not be a good liar but I'm not an idiot," She crossed her arms, unhappy that he would lie to her. "Where were you?"

"I don't have'ta tell you!" Gajeel bit out defensively.

"Well, I'd _appreciate_ it if you did," She sounded so hopeful. After all, she had lied for him.

"And I'd appreciate if you kept yah kept outta my business," He snarled back.

If he'd been expecting her to recoil, or cry, stomp off, the small smile that graced her face instead killed his train of thought dead.

"I think you'll tell me eventually," Levy said, retreating back to the room she was sharing with Erza. Her walk was confident and certain. Gajeel had no idea why. What had changed or when.

Laying in the dark he replayed every scene, every sound and smell from the crime scene. He could barely even admit it to himself, but his dreams were no better than the woman in the room next door; the one who'd spent the night tossing and turning, gripped in nightmares.

When he'd closed his eyes, terror was there waiting for him. A thought concerned him after waking, laying on that lumpy cpuch, a thought that there was something familiar about the killer's lingering smell.

Because, the real problem was that now Gajeel knew for certain that they weren't looking for a beast master, or a takeover mage, they were searching for a Dragon Slayer.

* * *

Notes

Eeeeep! Huge thank you to everyone reading and reviewing. All the follows and faves!

A big thank you to Moonlight Goddesses, Bluuesparrow, Desna, lilphoenixfeather, LevyLoveGaLe, afeltyz, JGio23, FanBoyNinja, kmmcm and all the wonderful guest comments. The reviews are so wonderful to see!


	6. Chapter 5

When Levy woke again she was alone in the bed. Windowless, the room was still dark but she could see sunlight creeping out from under the door. The covers beside her were ruffled from where Erza had been; the woman radiated an otherworldly amount of heat while she slept and it had been a far from pleasant slumber for Levy because of it. She'd tossed and turned, chased by memories of blood and imagined shrieks. Waking up to a cool bed had been the most pleasant part. A few minutes lying there, awake in solitude. It was a peaceful feeling.

Levy probably would have stayed in bed all day if she hadn't caught the smell of toast and coffee calling out to her from the kitchen. She hadn't known how hungry she was till that first scent of melting butter hit her and her feet were moving before her brain caught up to the anxiety of wandering around Gajeel's home.

"Morning!" She said, trying her very best to appear cheerful despite the dark circles under her eyes and the haunted expression lurking just underneath.

Gajeel seemed altogether out of place in the kitchen as he washed plates and cups in the sink. Like he didn't quite know how to handle them, or was expecting to accidentally break something. He looked tired.

Just before dawn Erza and Lily had decided to fly back to the guild and get a good aerial look at the city as they went to check in with Makarov. Gajeel was left alone to guard the fort so to speak.

"Eat up and get dressed..." He mumbled a few words she didn't quite hear. "... walk yah to the guild," He made it sound like it was a prison sentence, but Levy was growing accustomed to the way Gajeel did things and what he really meant. He _was_ being considerate. It seemed he had problems with how he allowed himself to be viewed. He didn't like people to know he cared, even if that happened to be the truth.

"I.. appreciate it," She said, pulling at the corner of a slice of toast. She groaned in approval. It was a little cold, but he'd probably put it on when he heard her move about, not realising she was going to take her time about leaving the room.

Gajeel though was silent, while Levy slept, information about the attack had been trickling back to them since dawn.

"The woman from last night.." He said suddenly, choosing not to turn around to look at her. If he had, he'd of found her wide eyed, mid chew. Frozen like a startled doe at the mention. "... she was a _chaos_ mage...worked for the council... maybe a few classes just below Gildarts," He finished.

The implication wasn't subtle. Barbara Dan was murdered in plain view on Magnolia city streets. She was one of the team of mages sent after the likes of Gajeel, or Laxus, or other S-class wizards who might step out of line and need the Council's reminder to behave. She'd personally dragged Gajeel in for questioning on two separate occasions. Not an easy feat to take any Dragon Slayer on.

She had two young children... if Gajeel wasn't mistaken, too.

Her murder also meant that the local law enforcement were about to lose all authority over this investigation. Because if they thought the Magic Council were going to sit twiddling their thumbs after this kind of incident, they were in for a rude awakening.

The thing though that struck with Levy was the knowledge that if someone so strong could be taken down and not a single witness to see it happen, then no one was safe.

"What.. is it..." She absently muttered.

"It's a fucking Dragon Slayer!" Gajeel snarled, picking a glass of water and throwing it into the sink, letting it smash.

"You're sure?" Levy wasn't sure she could believe it.

"Yeah... sure enough...but it ain't like us. Not even talkin' about the fact that it's clearly batshit insane or the claws...it's..." He turned to look at her, fumbling for the words. _"...sick_ or something!"

"Like... the _flu_?" He couldn't help but laugh at the innocence in that.

"No, shorty...I... I don't fuckin' know," It was rare to see Gajeel so uncertain. So acutely self aware of that, as well. "It's body smells wrong. Like a slab of old meat..."

"Are you okay?" She asked him and he realised he was gripping the countertop hard enough that the surface had begun to crack. When he pulled back there was blood on his palms from some of the shards that splintered when the glass smashed.

He stood frozen, staring at his bleeding hands confused at having not felt the pain.

Warm hands on his elbows spun him slowly, pulling him toward a kitchen stool and gently nudging him to sit down.

"Stay for a minute... I'll be back!"

"Don't bother, it'll heal," Gajeel argued, entranced by the way her cheeks flushed red.

"Not with bits of glass in them, they won't," She met his eyes unflinchingly. Every bit a Fairy Tail mage. "Don't make me kick your ass, Gajeel Redfox!" She said with a smile and he remembered being trapped with her. In particular, trapped with her beneath him. Her body pressed against his. He'd felt her pulse through her skin, that heat growing between them. Gajeel swore you could have sent him into a store and he could have picked out the same brand of shampoo and shower gel she used. It had been a while since he'd shared that kind of intimate space with a woman and it showed. As far from mutual or sexual as it was, the closeness was ingrained in his mind.

He wiped that thought out of his head.

When she returned it was with a small needle nosed tweezers and a first aid kit.

"Don't yah think this is overreacting a bit?"

He pulled back in shock when she flicked him on the nose.

"No, I don't... now give me your hands before I make a few new holes with these tweezers," She threatened him. It was stupid how much he admired her ability to do that. Seemlessly switch from doting, sweet and innocent to waving a pointed instrument in his face threatening to stab him.

"Don't go sayin' stuff like that... you'll make me think yah don't like me or somethin'" Gajeel smirked but an eyebrow rose at the pink suddenly spreading across her cheeks.

He yelped in a very unDragon Slayer way when she yanked the first shard out of his palm. Smiling as she caught him off guard. Gritting his teeth he bore the rest in silence, unwilling to satisfy her with a remark about it hurting.

When she was finished she wiped his palms down with antiseptic gauze, letting her fingers trace the skin as she watched the tiny wounds close in fascination.

Gajeel's felt a pleasant shudder. Her fingertips ran over his palms with light, soothing motions that he could have sworn he'd be able to fall asleep to. He found himself closing his eyes, a low hum involuntarily resonating in him

For all the acts of intimacy, all the late, sweaty, raunchy nights, he never would have guessed something so chaste, so innocent as that would have such a reaction. Awareness landed with a heavy pounding weight and he pulled back the hand she was examining and stood, moving away from her.

"See... good as new," Gajeel's voice was strained and she looked at him oddly. She hadn't realised what she'd been doing had been effecting him. Not until his awkward retreat. Standing abruptly and putting several feet between them.

There was a look in her eyes very much like disappointment though she covered very well with a sincere smile.

"So it is... I... should probably get dressed," She stood and headed back to his room.

Gajeel sat down on his couch, fixing his vision on a point on the bedroom door. Feeling stupified. He felt something inside him stir, and not the seedy, blood pumping to his groin kind of reaction, either. She was kind and sweet, with a keen intellect and a sharp tongue.

And if he wasn't mistaken, she may have been interested in him. Maybe just a little. Maybe more than pity. Or a desire to change him. He seemed to be doing that on his own. As crazy as it seemed, he cared about her, and of what she thought about him. Gajeel wasn't so unaware to realise he acted differently around her. Told her more than he did other people. He hadn't even told Lily about the killer being a Dragon Slayer.

Romantic or not, she cared about him. Except, unlike Lily, she'd every reason not to. Levy McGarden had first hand experience of just the kind of bastard Gajeel could be while Lily had simply heard stories. The two were drastically incomparable.

On the other side of the bedroom door Levy was sitting on the bed staring at the handle having a very similar internal debate and she tried to unbutton her top, her fingers fumbling. The logical part of her brain told her that they'd experienced something horrific together and she was overreaching. Latching onto him, seeing something that wasn't there. Except it was, there'd been something between them already. Before the moon turned red. Before the earthquake..

A thought occurred to her and she jumped up frantic, bolting through the door out into the livingroom.

"The _earthquake!_ I think the earthquake has something..." She trailed off at the look on Gajeel's face.

"Ahhem..." He coughed, turning away. Ears a little red. _"Shirt..."_ He muttered, trying to keep the smile off his face and his eyes away from the glaring avenue of pale skin exposed from her neck to her navel. The fabric of her top just showing the sides of her breasts and no more. Had his apartment had a draft or if the windows weren't to difficult to open...

Levy squealed looking at herself in horror and turning around tried to quickly redo the buttons.

"If I'd known I was getting a show I'd have made popcorn..."

The words came out before he could stop himself. If given a second chance, he'd still have probably said the same thing. That had to be some sort of personality dysfunction, in and of itself.

With too much blood in her head to function Levy stumbled and tripped her way back into the bedroom and collapsed on the bed, burying her head in her hands with a groan.

For the first time in her life she thanked her lucky stars that her bust was a small one. Too small to have shifted the material much when she moved. She'd have really given him something to laugh at then.

She dressed hastily. Boots, leggings, Erza had packed very efficiently, very modestly and suddenly Levy was entirely grateful for that.

"You were saying something about the quake?"

Levy heard as soon as she peeked her head outside the door. Almost jumping, she found dead Gajeel leaning against the wall beside the door. His coat was on and he looked ready to leave.

"What if something got loose. What if the moon freed it?" She was blushing just being near him now, embarrassed beyond words, but this was more important.

"Moonlight, huh?" Gajeel scratched his chin in thought. Moonlight and even starlight had been used for thousands of years to break enchantments. It was a plausible idea. "I smelled a Dragon Slayer, though, ain't no fooling a Dragon's nose,"

"You think you'd be able to follow it?"

Of course that had been Gajeel's plan. Knowing or not knowing for certain what it was didn't change that it needed to be stopped. Despite the fact that it was strong enough to take on even the toughest of mages, it did only venture out at night. There had to be a reason for that. Was it scared of being seen? Weak to daylight? All Gajeel knew was that fears could be exploited. He'd been a bastard long enough to figure that out.

"I ain't exactly a blood hound, shorty...but that's about as good a plan as any. Certainly beats sitting round... though, a mornin' strip tease isn't exactly a motivator to leave the house," He flashed her a teasing grin and she groaned pitifully.

"Please, can we pretend that didn't happen?"

"What's in it for me?" He leaned against the front door, blocking her exit but stepped aside with no resistance when she pushed him out of the way.

Levy paused, uncertain of just what he was asking.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"I'll come back to yah on that," He teased.

Gajeel smelled it only as he opened the apartment door and came face to face with the thing that had haunted Levy's dreams. It was so surreal how the atmosphere shifted from breakfast and coffee, casual flirting to absolute panic. Levy's voice died. The woman unable to scream as it appeared in the doorway, staring blankly at them. Seven foot in height with pale stone scales covering it where you'd expect to see skin. She didn't recognise it. It wasn't any of the Dragon Slayers she'd seen, and they were a rare breed.

Gajeel was uncharacteristically still. Levy didn't understand why until he stumbled back clutching his stomach. Blood running down his arms from five deep punctures. The creature held up a blood wet hand and raked the taste of him across its tongue.

"Tell me where she is, Dragon Slayer!"

Gajeel fell backwards into Levy, knocking them both to the ground. The weight of the Iron Dragon hitting her hard, forcing the wind out of her.

When yellow eyes fixed on her it smiled a blood curdling smile, it's jagged fangs were rotten and broken. It looked at her almost without seeing her. Seeing something else.

"Every time I find you... you _vanish,"_ The deformed Dragon Slayer wailed to her. "You...KEEP LEAVING ME!" It roared, striking the frame of the door with a fist. The wood cracked, exploding and showering them in wooden splinters.

Levy put her hands under Gajeel's arms and pulled him away from the door. He tried to help, pushing against the floor with his feet but between the blood slicking the tile and the weakness spreading through his limbs they moved slowly. Not fast enough as the creature advanced.

It ducked coming in through the doorway and in the direct light Levy could see that it's scales were cracked. The whites of its hideous, sickly yellow eyes were bloodshot. Gajeel had been right. There was something wrong. Whoever this had once been was ill.

It held out a hand to her and Gajeel growled low. Weak from blood loss or not, he made his stance on _that_ clear.

Gunshots rang out from the hall and it spun, Levy catching sight of a faded brand on it's shoulder blade. Another shot echoed and it roared, stumbling back, hand clutching a newly ruined eye. The blood oozing out between it's fingers was black and smoked where it dripped on the ground. It focused such a look of hatred at Levy as it passed, fleeing out through the window, taking the frame and a dozen bricks with it, she couldn't even hear her _name_ being called. For a second nothing existed beyond that glare.

A pale and tired looking Saggart panted from the doorway. Her raised gun was steady though it seemed to be the only thing that was. The rest of her looked like a strong gust of wind could topple her. She'd come for some follow up questions, knowing the magic council was about to rain down on her case and she wanted a head start. She hadn't expected to run straight into their killer's next murder.

Levy felt Gajeel go completely limp and reached around to put pressure on his wounds.

"An ambulance is on its way!"

Levy held Gajeel's face tightly between her palms and willed him to open his eyes again but his breathing was shallow. Where there was once a steady stream of blood under her fingers, now it had stemmed. Saggart got down on her knees and put her ear to his chest.

"I don't hear a heart beat," The woman muttered. And for all she'd held them in despite the horrors of the past two days, Levy cried.


	7. Chapter 6

Saggart seemed gripped by panic for a moment, wide eyed at the sight of just so much blood, the fresh memory of a nightmarish creature snarling like a wounded beast but she was well trained and without another thought she started chest compressions. The only thing she could do with his falling blood pressure.

"No..." Levy stammered, unable to even formulate words. Lost. She could probably create blood for him if she knew his blood type or could guarantee some way of getting it into him without causing some sort of internal haemorrhage.

"Put pressure on the wounds!" Saggart snarled, ripping her from her thoughts. Levy wasn't the strongest of people but she pressed down as hard as she could as blood spurted under her fingers with every pump of Gajeel's heart.

It dragged out for what seemed like forever. Endless painstaking minutes not knowing if he was going to live. If he was dead already and this was simply an exercise in futility as Saggart kept a harsh rhythm on his chest, though even Levy could see she was losing energy. Her own fingers were slick with blood; the bleeding now only a trickle.

The heavy footsteps in the hall outside as paramedics rushed in were music to her. A light in the pitch black darkness that her life had suddenly become.

She was roughly shoved aside as one of the men jabbed an enormous syringe of oddly colored liquid straight into Gajeel's heart and the Dragon Slayer's eyes snapped open, drawing a deep haggard breath, his upper body jolting up from the ground as it sought oxygen.

Gajeel collapsed again, groaning in pain as the men in uniform pressed a wad of gauze against his stomach, the bleeding having suddenly returned with a gruesomeness that made Levy feel weak.

"We can only use those blood replacement potions once... We need to get him into surgery and get this stitched up," The paramedic said more, about internal injuries and perforation but Levy was only half listening. Cooing to Gajeel who didn't seem quite sure of what was happening though his eyes were open and he was breathing on his own. Heart pumping, an erratic but strong pulse humming under her shaky cold fingers.

The men had difficulty hoisting him onto the stretcher. With the adrenaline and confusion, part of the Dragon Slayer had turned to iron and they struggled with the weight of him.

Levy put her palm against the man's cheek.

"It's _okay..."_ She whispered softly and Gajeel relaxed, iron fading to flesh again and the bleeding staunched somewhat by the rush of Dragon magic, kicking his advanced healing into gear.

They managed to get him secured and Levy stood, following the paramedics to the ambulance, holding onto Gajeel as they went. Neighbours peeking out their doors to watch as they went.

Levy went to climb into the ambulance and was stopped.

"Family only,"

"See that guild mark?" She pointed to Gajeel's arm, glowering at the sight of yet more blood on her hands. Blood seemed to follow blood. At this rate she'd never be clean. "It means I go where he goes," The paramedic looked at her somewhat unsympathetically, altogether exasperated by the attitude, but a shake of the head from his colleague and he immediately. didn't want to argue about it. Fairy Tail were an odd, close knit bunch.

"I'll meet you at the hospital...I guess... I gotta go have your guildmaster notified," Saggart mused quietly. Hands still shaking with now even more paperwork and problems to contend with. Local law enforcement and the guilds had a unique relationship. Often the guilds were a help, sometimes more a hindrance than anything. Their involvement in cases often had unexpected outcomes.

It had also attacked in daylight. At someone's home. Someone already involved in the case. It wasn't opportunistic like the other attacks. A change in behaviour like that was never a good thing.

Gajeel stayed awake for the trip but was far from lucid for most of the journey to the hospital. He recognised Levy but had absolutely zero understanding or memory about how they got to that stage. What troubled the paramedics weren't the open wounds which could be stitched up, instead, what concerned them was that they could see a steady blackening around the injuries in his abdomen.

You'd be hard pressed to find a poison or disease capable of doing more damage to a Dragon Slayer than a day spent in bed, a little out of it, but this looked like it was _eating_ at him... and it was spreading _fast._ It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes and it had travelled almost four inches from the now closing wounds.

But this was Gajeel. He wasn't the type to just lay down; he was fighting. When Levy grabbed his hand and squeezed, callous fingers tightened in response. Levy saw his lips moving under the oxygen mask but his voice was too weak, too muffled to understand.

She shook her head, tears welling up again.

"I can't understand you!"

Slowly his other hand came up to slip down the oxygen mask.

"You shouldn't... cry...look ridiculous..." He muttered with a smirk, lucid and intensely focused on her, before one of the paramedics put the mask back on with an admonishing stare.

Somehow knowing he was okay enough to make fun of her, alleviated some of Levy's fears. She knew then without a shadow of a doubt he was going to pull through this.

"You're an _asshole!"_ She said with a laugh, but once she started she found she couldn't stop, the oxygen tank must have been leaking cause she was halfway to hysterics when she finally managed to get a grip. "Half dead and still making fun of me?"

He snorted in reply before speaking again, then growling as he pulled at the mask, uncovering his mouth so she could understand.

 _"Always..."_

* * *

"There...are details we haven't released to the public yet."

Saggart was tiny in the chair Laxus had put out for her. Dwarfed between two armrests like a child. An inch higher and her legs would have dangled. Fairy Tail's other s-class mages and the Dragon Slayers perched themselves on tables and stood awkwardly, trying to take in the troubling news. Not only were these murders coming fast and frequently but an attack at Gajeel's apartment in broad daylight was a new and troubling development.

"Like?" Laxus questioned, unsettled by the fact that something had followed Gajeel to his front door and took him down almost without a fight. The man wasn't easy to get the drop on. None of the Dragon Slayers were.

"Those people were _already_ dead when it ripped them to shreds," She explained to a sea of shocked and confused faces. "That's an act of rage. So far almost all the victims have been female, the one male, from the initial blood splatter we concluded that died from an arterial cut..." She met Laxus's eyes evenly. "He died in seconds... two streets away and was dragged to were he was found... we think he interrupted one of the killings," She started chewing on her fingernails. They'd been bitten almost completely off and it was hard to tell if the blood in them was from Gajeel or a result of her own anxious habit.

"We still don't know what actually _killed_ the women... we do know they generally made it a short distance from where they were first attacked before dying. It _waited_ for them to die. Then tore up the bodies _after._ Angry. _Disappointed,"_ She huffed, pulling her hand from her mouth as she realised what she was doing." The coroner is thinking poison. Something magical he hasn't been able to identify," She disclosed to a room of quiet, concerned faces. " Mr Redfox is suffering some sort of unidentifiable infection that have the doctors concerned. They haven't been able to do more than slow it. The two _could_ be related."

"Why come to us with this information?" Makarov knew very well, in an investigation like this, law enforcement didn't have to tell them diddly squat. Certainly they wouldn't be disclosing so much to them.

"The magic council..." She checked her watch with a sigh. "... I'd say they've already seized this investigation... down at the office taking our files and asking _stupid_ questions," She didn't sound like a fan. "...but this thing has targeted Magnolia, and you are all _citizens_ of Magnolia. This is your home. _My_ home. _Our_ problem," She said soberly.

"You make this sound like a job," Natsu piped up out of nowhere.

"If that makes it easier for you, sure...though... I can't say you'll be _paid,"_ She laughed dryly, pulling out a tissue stained black and holding it up. "I took an eye, figured maybe with a little of its blood you might be able to track it? I've yet to come across a man, beast or monster that didn't need to _sleep_ at some point."

Natsu was smirking.

" _Hell yeah, I can_!" He looked to Makarov, eagerly seeking permission.

"But not alone," Makarov warned. "Erza, Laxus, Gray... you three go with him. I'd like Wendy's to go to Gajeel. I want him back as soon as. If it followed him home, it may follow him to the hospital," Makarov was thinking about the other patients. The hospital might not fair well if the creature turned up there looking for its targets.

"Yes, Master," Wendy was on her feet faster than even she knew she could move. She wasn't a skilled enough tracker to help Natsu but healing she could do.

Natsu's snatched the tissue and immediately recoiled from it.

"Oh _man_ ... there is something _majorly_ wrong with that!" He said, Wendy's nose wrinkled in disgust from the sight alone.

Saggart went to stand but hesitated.

"One more thing," She pulled a pen from her notepad and started tracing a pattern. "This was on the creature's shoulder...recognize it?" It looked like a set of twisted wings, curling around a rising sun. It could have easily been a guild symbol but for the fact that it didn't belong to any they knew of. Makarov had been around for a long time and hadn't seen anything close to it. Saggart had checked every guild they had on record, in Fiore _and_ beyond but there was nothing.

 _"No,_ but if it exists anywhere, Fairy Tail will find it," Makarov promised. "Wendy, when you get to the hospital, tell Levy we need her help."

* * *

Gajeel wasn't the man he'd once been. Phantom Lord had been the kind of guild where you locked and double bolted your door at night, warded your room against magic and fire. You never quite knew whether your attacker would come from in _or_ outside and it was best to take every precaution. He could admit, it kept him on his toes. Kept him _sharp._

The _old_ Gajeel would have been prepared. More cautious. As it stood, the Iron Dragon Slayer only noticed the claws when they were buried in his guts. Eyes locked with a creature that honestly scared him. Was it not every Dragon Slayer's fear to one day turn into one? Or in this things case, something horrifying, something rotting away between the two.

As much as he cut his teeth uncertainly on the idea that he'd become less paranoid, more trusting with Fairy Tail and it might have possibly made him more vulnerable...on the other hand, it was the man he was now that was waking up to a room decorated with flowers, a sleeping Levy McGarden slumped over his numb legs, snoring far louder than he'd expect from a woman her size. Her hair band had slipped from her head and his sheets were a sea of tangled blue hair. One of her small hands gripped his. Tight and a little sweaty. It didn't seem like she'd let go in hours.

Almost no one had given a damn about the _old_ him. Maybe that Gajeel would have missed that first strike at the door, but that was no guarantee of survival. The truth was that he was alive because there were people who cared about him. They cared about the man he'd chosen to become.

"Y-You awake, shrimp?" His voice was hoarse and dry. He could barely get the words out. She stirred with an exhausted sounding sigh. It took a second for her vision to clear and another for the sight of him awake and talking to sink in before she threw herself at him. Arms pulling him into an awkward, remarkably _painful_ hug.

Gajeel smiled but it morphed into a grimace. She pulled back feeling him stiffen.

"You only got out of surgery a few hours ago...and they're still worried about infection," She said, there was concern in her eyes.

Gajeel could feel it. A tightness. A _heat_ spreading through his abdomen.

"Yeah... I feel it," He said. "What happened...after? Don't remember much," He winced, sitting himself up. Looking around at all the flowers, smelling her magic on them.

"Saggart shot at it...I...I think she injured it but it broke out through your living room window before I got a look," Levy said, relieved they were all alive. Magic or no magic, Saggart was a crack shot with a pistol and from the look on Gajeel's face he was coming round to the notion he might have owed her his life. Levy knew they both did.

 _"Good!"_ He growled before finally noticing that Levy was once again bloody. Her clothes ruined a second time; dried blood under her nails despite obvious attempts to wash them clean. She'd stayed with him. Through it all.

"Coulda gone home and cleaned up...didn't have'ta stay," Gajeel tried to make it sound like an admonishment but he knew he just sounded bewildered, maybe a little self-conscious. He knew he liked her, though Lily had tried screaming it, _beating_ it into his thick skull that being an asshole toward her was probably not doing him favors in the long run; it was just tough, Gajeel had no experience getting someone's attention beyond being abrasive.

He knew at some point someone would need to say something or do something. It gave him a headache thinking about it. Terrifying if he were honest.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay..." She hesitated. Choosing her words very carefully. "... you're my friend..." She tried to say casually, failing miserably. Gajeel was a walking lie detector but even he didn't need Dragon Slayer senses to catch more than she said.

It suddenly seemed so simple. He liked her. She resiprocated. Yet for the first time in his adult life he was clumsily, awkwardly tripping over himself in the face of something genuinely meaningful. It was rare he got beaten, but a part of him just wasn't sure he could do this.

"... friends..." The word got stuck in his throat a little as he repeated it. Rolling it around on his tongue. Levy was smart. From the disjointed expression on her face he saw her cycle through a whole host of thoughts and feelings. Maybe a little guilt. Shame. Disappointment.

It didn't seem she was altogether happy with the term she'd used to define them, either. Gajeel sucked in a breath.

"Yah... wanna get coffee... or somethin'? _After_ all this... " The words tumbled out of him before reason or nerves could choke them.

When her eyes narrowed at him he could honestly say he came closer to death than he had back at the apartment.

"There's a rogue killer Dragon Slayer out there...one that almost _killed_ you ...and _...are_ you asking me out on a _date,_ Gajeel Redfox?"

"Maybe..." He said, and the ground could have swallowed him up whole at that point. Truthfully, when you were squaring off against monsters and demons you needed something to look forward to.

She reached over and placed the back of her hand on his head.

"That's really strange..." She muttered with a barely held in check grin. "... you don't _feel_ feverish. Maybe that infection is worse than the doctors think?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, silent while she mocked his attempt at asking her out. Amusement and teasing he guessed were better than revulsion or flat out rejection. Her hand was soft against his forehead and he wanted very much to lean into it, close his eyes and let himself drift back to sleep.

"Well, I'm sure Wendy's can see to it... get you out of this horrible place," Carla said snarkily, appearing from the doorway, clearly uncomfortable in the overly sterile, miserable environment.

The moment unknowingly well and truly interrupted, Levy pulled back from Gajeel sheepishly while Carla glared impatiently back out into the hall as a panting Wendy finally caught up, her face paling when she finally caught sight of the gruesome looking pair in the hospital room.

Gajeel was growing to appreciate the benefits of support magic. Infections. Curses. Wounds. Mind control. The youngest of the Dragon Slayers was skilled in dealing with it all, and while the doctors remained stumped, within moments he could feel Wendy's magic start knitting everything back together, easing the pain around the inflammation and eliminating the tight, stretched skin feeling around the infected wounds. In seconds he was looking better. Feeling stronger. A lot more like his previous self.

"Were you able to get rid of all the infection?" Levy asked her.

Wendy paused in thought, her face flushed and covered in a thin sheen of sweat from the exertion. There was a reason healing magic was as rare as it was. It wasn't easy. Even in an organization as large and as powerful as Fiore's magic Council, they only had one mage in their employ with healing magic and they were no where near as versatile or as strong as Wendy. Despite all appearances, the other Dragon Slayers knew she had reservoirs of as of yet untapped power.

"It's not _really_ an infection. It's more like...foreign magic..." Wendy said, confused. "Kinda felt like Dragon Slayer magic, actually."

Neither Levy or Gajeel were surprised by that, all things considered. But magic as an infection... that was a very scary concept.

"If it was magic, it must have had a purpose. There has to be _intention_ behind power," Carla reasoned out loud.

Death, _murder,_ was as powerful an intention as anything, Gajeel figured. It didn't necessarily need a reason beyond that.

Wendy seemed happy to have been of use and smiled brightly at Gajeel.

"I'll go get the doctor to check you out again and if they're okay with it, you can probably leave," Wendy said before going in search of Gajeel's attending physician. The man was probably still locked in battle with Porlyusica, the guild's resident doctor apparently had some concerns regarding how they'd dealt with him and wasn't shy about voicing them.

With Wendy gone, Gajeel noticed Carla had fixed Levy with a pointed look.

"We shouldn't linger while Wendy looks for a doctor. You're needed back at the guild," The Exceed said and to his great annoyance, she didn't make it sound like a _request._

"We can all go back together," Was the woman's reply. Carla looked about to protest that, but Levy interrupted her before she had the chance. _"You_ didn't see it... we'll be safer if we all leave together," Levy said, dead serious.

"You expect it to come after you again?"

"I don't even know why it came after us the _first time_ ," Levy admitted with a frown. Had it been still there, watching them at the site of the murder? Had it gone back to the scene and followed their scent? Why do any of it? She just didn't know.

"I ain't lettin' any of yah walk out of here without me. Tell the old man whatever you want. Tell him I threatened yah, don't really care, not Lev, not the kid, not even _you_ are stepping foot outside that hospital door without me," Gajeel snarled at Carla, no longer waiting for the doctor and pulling the covers off his legs.

Swinging his feet to the floor on the opposite side of the bed he gave the pair of them a birds eye view of his completely naked back.

 _"Gajeel..._ eh... you're kinda _naked_ under that _backless_ hospital gown!" Levy was trying not to laugh at him, but it was either that or ogle. And it would have been ruder to stare.

Gajeel turned quickly, but made every attempt to appear nonchalant about covering himself. Levy looked away with a blush while Carla glanced back and forth between them with a raised, disbelieving brow.

"Hardly an appropriate time to be _flirting..."_ She muttered under her breath. Levy didn't hear but Gajeel did. The man's eyes narrowing dangerously and the exceed looked suddenly anxious under the heat of his stare.

"Well if it isn't my least favorite patient," A doctor swooped in before anything else could be said. The man had stitches in his upper lip and a black eye.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Gajeel asked indignantly. Doctors generally didn't look like they went a round with Erza, but this one did.

"Well, the Dragon Slayer I tried to sedate bolted upright on the table and accidentally headbutted me in the face," He said with a somewhat pained smile. "I can't be sure, but his skull might have been made of iron at the time."

"Oh..." Gajeel said blankly. Idly scratching at his chin. The doctor shooed the others aside and pulled a screen across for some privacy. Levy could hear patches of gauze being ripped away and Gajeel's impatient huffing. When the screen was pushed back, Gajeel was fixing the paper gown as best he could.

"Looks like your little healer did a first rate job. We'll want you back for the standard check ups, but other than a few scars, all the wounds are gone, infection, too," The doctor said signing his discharge papers. "Well need your partner's signature as a witness as well as yours, indicating you're happy to leave and..."

Gajeel's face had started turning pink. Levy coughed in shock, taking the sheet of paper to sign. Her signature was a happy flourish of loops next to Gajeel's almost illegible scrawl. Neither of them mentioned it.

They'd literally cut his clothes off but Lily had left a change for him, staying only long enough to discover the outcome of his surgery. The Exceed knew there was too much to do to linger and left to make a start on cleaning and securing their apartment. There was presently a few pints of blood and a busted window to sort out. To the casual observer it might have seemed cold but they knew each other pretty well. Gajeel knew that Lily handled pressure in a number of ways. Waiting wasn't one them. That and he knew Gajeel wouldn't be waking alone.

"Hey!" Levy said as he went to move passed her. Gajeel was still a little shaky. Anxiety was kicking in as the drugs started wearing off, a process accelerated by Wendy's magic purging his system. It wasn't safe there at the hospital, maybe not safe anywhere, but he knew it would be best if they were surrounded by their guild if it attacked again. They'd the best chances of taking it out if they were together. He knew they needed to leave...and sooner rather than later.

When he looked at her though, those thoughts disappeared, watching her standing there staring at him, hands clasped behind her back and shifting her feet. He forgot it all. The smell of lingering blood in his nostrils. The threat of death hunting Magnolia's streets.

He forgot the world.

"I... eh.. _like_ coffee," She was smiling at him. Bright despite the exhaustion and lingering concern on her face.

"I _know..."_ He said with a devious grin. ".. we'll hit a machine on the way out... _OWWWW!"_ Gajeel exclaimed as Levy pinched him in the side.

"I like _good_ coffee.." She said firmly. Unimpressed with his little joke.

Gajeel laughed, rubbing at his side. Although healed his abdomen was still tender and the laughter made him ache.

 _"Good_ coffee, then..." He watched the satisfied way she walked off and rumbled to himself watching the pleased sway to her hips. In any other situation, he'd have told himself to get a grip and go find a woman.

But Gajeel Redfox was fairly sure that in all this, that's _precisely_ what had just happened.

* * *

Notes

I love you guys!

Thank you so much for all your reviews. I'm currently renovating a house and the stress and exhaustion are murder.


	8. Chapter 7

Notes

I don't generally, but I'm popping a warning in here for uncomfortable moments at the end of this chapter. Violence and use of restraint. Almost everything I write is mature but I figure warning folk is only polite.

Thank you so much for all the reviews! And the positive messages and a huge thank you to WheresTheFood and Bluuesparrow for helping me out of my funk. They got me back to writing when I felt like quitting.

Ireland is currently smack in the middle of a little bit of a hurricane so I'm going to try and buckle up. I love you all so much and I hope you don't hate me too much for this...

* * *

"A date?"

"C _offee_..."

"And yet _still_ a date, Levy," Lucy shook her head. "After waking up from life saving surgery... after you were _both_ attacked by a murderous monster?" She huffed out a laugh. People were dying and Levy had chosen now to tend to her rather vacant love life. "And he asked you out in the _middle_ of this?" Lucy was staring off into space, a disbelieving look on her face. "That _may_ be the most Gajeel thing I've ever actually heard," She narrowed her eyes at Levy suspiciously. "You sure he wasn't drugged or hallucinating or something?"

Levy thought hard about that. It wasn't the first time that very notion had popped into her head. That, delirious and in pain, Gajeel hadn't exactly meant to broach the subject, but ended up cornered by her acceptance.

"I... _considered_ that... the truth is, I'm not sure. But it's _just_ coffee. Friends have coffee, too," Levy deflated a little. "Do you think I'm a bad person?" Lucy's eyebrows rose in disbelief at her friends question.

"Why in the hell would I think you're a _bad person?"_ Lucy was frowning. "You're the _best_ person I know," She assured her.

"People are _dying..."_ Levy threw her hands up. "And I'm concerned with a _date,"_ She grumbled at Lucy's look of triumph. Levy knew what she'd just admitted.

"When everything turns to crap around you, and bad things start happening, you need the good things to latch onto. If I were you, _I'd_ be doing _anything_ I could not to think of it," Lucy reached out and took her hand in comfort. "The guy you've developed a crush on asked you out, you aren't a bad or selfish person for being happy about that," Lucy smiled.

"I _don_ _'t_ have a crush on him!" Levy all but whined making Lucy laugh.

"Yes, and it not a _date,"_ Lucy quipped. "How long were you stuck alone with him holding that stage off you? Half an hour pressed up underneath him?" Lucy asked and Levy went silent, cheeks turning pink. "Uh huh, that's what I thought! I'm sure _he_ was thrilled."

"It's _not_ like that..." Levy said carefully. "He was _just_ as uncomfortable as I was," She resisted the urge to wring her hands. "I know he seems crude... _and_ aggressive... but he's kinda sweet.. maybe even a little bit awkward, just... he's stuck in this school yard bully mentality," Levy felt like she was defending him. As crappy a defense as that could be. And she knew it wasn't a good one. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about trying to defend _him, or_ her interest in him.

"Well, he's a bully alright. As if that's ever a good way to show you _like_ someone." Lucy chuckled at how childish Gajeel was turning out to be. Imagining him as a big angry kid made her feel better about the concept of Levy and him dating; there was certainly no love lost between them. But he'd changed in his time with the guild and she wasn't deaf to what Levy was saying. He _had_ soft spots. Not many, but enough to claw his way out of the heartless bastard pit his membership of Phantom Lord had dropped him into.

The guild got to know the animal loving, child friendly, tone deaf Gajeel Redfox. The man that hurled himself under a collapsing stage to protect the girl he'd a not so secret crush on.

Lucy couldn't say she liked him, but she was willing to give him a pass on it. If Laxus could get a clean slate, Gajeel deserved the same.

"Levy, I won't lie, you happen to have the _strangest_ taste in men, but if you're happy, I'm happy," Lucy hugged her. Levy had truthfully worried that out of everyone, Lucy would be the one to show the most disapproval. Not disapprove the _most,_ but _certainly_ be the most vocal about it. The fact that she'd given her approval, such as it was, was a definite positive.

Makarov couldn't be entirely sure if it had followed Levy _or_ Gajeel, so for the time being he recommended they be separated and _never_ without at least one S-class mage with them or nearby. Laxus was Levy's constant shadow at the minute; the mage was down stairs at the coffee place next door to Lucy's apartment, just in case. Lily and Makarov were with Gajeel. No doubt Gajeel was telling them _all_ about their mystery rogue Dragon Slayer. Something that _still_ wasn't public knowledge yet.

Levy hadn't been back to her apartment in Fairy Hills yet. She'd washed up and showered at the guild, given more statements to the local authorities and once more Erza had been fetching her clean clothes, but she hadn't been home yet.

If it was her and not Gajeel it was stalking, leading it back to an apartment building filled with sleeping women wasn't a good idea. And considering it's preferred targets, the chances were that it was _her_ it had followed. Gajeel had seemed more an obstacle... not the target.

Pick a woman, stalk, kill, mutilate, pick another and repeat.

But Levy was smart. Death wasn't the intention. It had a purpose, a goal. It was searching for something... or _someone._ She stopped herself mid-thought. It had been a man once and he _wasn't_ mindless. Angry and confused. _Very_ dangerous. But, she knew his story must have been something pitiable. Something almost too terrible to imagine. The thought struck her harder than a punch to the chest.

This wasn't just about saving the city from the monster stalking it. There was someone under those scales in need of saving, too.

The problem with that was convincing the others of the same. Levy already knew they'd be out there prepared to hunt him down. They weren't wrong. She knew that as well. But she was a member of Fairy Tail, and Fairy Tail didn't take the easy route. If it was possible to save him, they would have to try because the Dragon Slayer hunting Magnolia's streets was _sick._ Tormented by something insidious and foul. Dying inch by inch. Helping him and saving lives were one and the same.

"Don't worry, we'll find it and stop it. Fairy Tail won't let anyone else get hurt!" Lucy said, catching the sad, faraway look in Levy's eyes.

She very almost called Lucy naive to her face. Though, that same undying belief in the guild and its members were one of her most endearing qualities. Levy however knew that with the frequency of attacks and the fact that they knew so little about it, there would be more bloodshed before this was over.

That was the only guarantee.

* * *

Juvia knew that to most of the members of Fairy Tail, everyone in fact but Gajeel, she seemed weird, perhaps even a little emotionally unstable. A relative wildcard. She didn't necessarily mind it. She _was_ odd. And she could _certainly_ be unpredictable. But when they teased her it was generally good natured and their inclusion was always welcome.

The truth that she was a bare step below an S-class mage, one who'd spent most of her adult life in a borderline dark guild seemed to skirt by most of them. She had just as many, if not _more_ skeletons in her closet than even Gajeel and they were just as dark.

She'd been the assassin. The spy. The informant. The enforcer. And she'd quietly hated it. The reason why her and Gajeel had formed the friendship that they had was a mutual, secret loathing of their lives. They'd both joined the guild looking for somewhere to belong and found a hopeless, endless dark instead. A place where they lost themselves. Where the worst parts of them were nurtured and exploited. Juvia's need to please. Gajeel's anger. Both of them abandoned in some form or another to a cold, cruel world only to be scooped up by Phantom Lord and molded into murderers.

When Juvia came to Fairy Tail, she personally vouched for Gajeel. Makarov had blinked stupidly at her for several seconds. He'd seen first hand what the Dragon Slayer was capable of. But Juvia was persistent. She told Makarov that Gajeel deserved a chance to change. That they were the same, guilty of the same crimes.

If Fairy Tail was willing to offer _her_ a place, there was no real rationale to say they couldn't do the same for him.

They were very much cut from the same cloth, her and Gajeel, and there were very good reasons they reached the positions they had in Phantom Lord and maintained them.

Juvia put her groceries down on the footpath and fixed her gloves.

It was difficult to describe the sensation that accompanied the knowledge that she was being followed. It was a familiar tremor in her fingers. Hairs on the back of her neck standing up straight. _Goosebumps._ It always felt irrational, that chill, but Juvia knew better than to assume it was a figment of her imagination. She'd been a member of the Element Four. A target of ambitious members. Guild enemies. José's twisted sense of humour, sometimes. Her instincts were _good. Trustworthy._

 _"Show yourself!"_ She hissed into the darkness.

Most of Magnolia's citizens were indoors, off the streets, but Juvia had never bowed to fear and loved the quiet of the night too much to stay inside. There was a peace and tranquillity that came hand in hand with the starlight, and sometimes, _especially_ at times like this she craved the sky like air. She'd grown up under perpetually grey overcast; sun and star and moon, veiled behind the neverending rain, and she appreciated their beauty in only the way someone denied it could.

Nothing answered her from the darkness. Not with words, anyway. A sound like a blade scraping stone echoed through the air and sent chills up her spine again. A warning echoing in her brain.

Juvia stepped to the side and brought her back against the wall, putting the street in both directions within view, and keeping herself out of sight. It comforted her to realise her breathing was even. A steady nerve that she'd managed to hold onto. Panicking never made these situations any easier.

 _"My love_?" She was no stranger to the desperation in that voice. It was a plea. A pain filled yearning.

"You're _mistaken._ I do not know you," She answered evenly into the darkness, looking round in search of the source of the voice but it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. "Show yourself to me!"

The rancid breath brushed her ear, tickling it and she found her body moving of its own accord. Hurtling her forwards and into a timed roll, centering her in the middle of the deserted street. As she stood to face the way she'd come it was just in time to see the outline of an arm disappearing back into the stone.

With narrowed eyes Juvia watched a ripple move along the surface of the wall. She'd seen similar magic before. And the problem with it was that as invisible as it seemed, there were always tells. Ways of spotting the mages location. She knew now how it had gotten the jump on Gajeel; how something so _nightmarish_ could be moving unseen throughout the city.

"I do believe you may have confused me with someone else, but if you let me, Juvia can help you find her?" She offered.

A growl was her only reply before it stepped fully out into the dim streetlights, body melting out of stone like water.

And Juvia felt that elusive thread of fear cut into her, severing her tongue, paralysing her vocal cords so she was capable of nothing more than a sharp pitched squeak in reply to the sight of it.

She'd noticed Gajeel's interest in the tiny, sprite like Levy and mused to herself why a man like him would be fawning over such a fragile little thing. So _delicate._ Like a harsh word would break her into a thousand pieces. And she knew now the woman had nerves of steel as hard as Gajeel's iron. That she still smiled and laughed knowing that the world held terrors like this was proof of that.

"J-Juvia would like to help you," And she wondered how she even summoned the will to speak let alone form _those_ words, perhaps even mean them.

On its back a pair of wings unfurled clumsily, still clearly forming, and it smiled a mouth filled with lethality.

" _Thank you!_ " It whispered sincerely.

Juvia's moment of relief vanished like smoke as it rushed her. It moved _fast._ Faster than Gajeel ever had in their training and even knowing that the Iron Dragon often held himself back a little when they sparred, she didn't think he would be able to match _this._ It was stupid, Laxus, _Jet_ level speed and she worried for the next time Gajeel fought it because Juvia knew him too well, well enough to know that he _would._

She dodged backward, _barely,_ just missing a low swipe of its claws aimed for her legs. A move designed to slow her, cripple her. Juvia shifted her weight and countered with a solid right hook that it made no move to dodge. Her fist connected with its broad jaw and she pulled back with a pained scream.

She staggered, almost tripping backwards as its head slowly swivelled up to glare impassively at her. There was no point in even glancing down at her hand, she could tell it was broken. The creature wasn't just able to move through the stone, it was _covered_ in stone scales. A fact she'd failed to take note of in her initial shock.

"A... Dragon Slayer... you're a _Dragon Slayer_ _?_ " Her voice shook now. A few minutes ago she'd been calm, but there'd been hope _then..._ and now? Now she wasn't quite so sure. Water from the drains surged up and Juvia started attacking it with every she had. Swiping at it with power born of pure pain fueled adrenaline. Her onslaught dazed him only a little but did absolutely no real damage. He crept forward slowly now. Cautiously. Juvia retreated as fast as she could without turning away from it, clutching her hand to quell the throbbing, aching _agony._ Her last effort was water lock but a powerful spell like that would be costly and in her current condition there was a chance she would run out of magic before he ran out of air, but there was little other options. Water wasn't working out to be terribly effective against stone, after all.

A bubble formed around him and it was with a dark satisfaction that Juvia watched as the Dragon Slayer thrashed for air. She hadn't paid that much attention to the size of him until he was immobilised, but now that she'd the chance to examine him, she noted how enormous he actually was. As big now as Elfman and that was far bigger than a normal man.

She felt her magic drain, and she prayed that he ran out of breath soon but when those wings of his violently expanded, hitting the wall of water with force, her barrier _shattered,_ taking her last hopes with it.

Landing heavily it rose, cocking it's head to the side as it watched her again while she tried to prepare herself for the worst. When it finally did move they were too close, and it was _much_ too fast for Juvia to evade. She barely felt the claws tear into her as she was sent skidding along the pavement. Coughing, she rolled over gripping her side and pressing her gloved hands into the wounds now freely bleeding there. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that she'd left a trail of blood on the street; a familiar shade of red she'd of much preferred not to be used to. She rolled again and tried to crawl, a cry strangling her at the thought dangling in front of her. She wasn't going to see her friends. Her apartment. Would never savour her favorite foods. Drink her favorite wine.

She'd never see Gray again.

There was pain as something gripped her by the boot and she was yanked forcefully back and turned to face her attacker. Stone claws ripped her hands away from her injuries and she found herself pinned, blinking through tears she suddenly came face to face with it, an enormous weight pressed against her chest.

Terror made her want to vomit, though that could have easily been the stench on its breath. Like death. Disease. Yellow eyes narrowed, moving till only inches separated them.

"I can _help_ you remember," It seemed to shush her. As though it were even _capable_ of comfort.

Silent, Juvia turned her eyes away, pulling her arms as hard as she could in its stone grip, staring up into the sky, the moon and stars now obscured with thick, billowing black clouds.

It opened its mouth wide, jaw twitching, eager for wet, warm flesh. Her body was getting weaker and even the will to struggle was slipping out of her grasp. There was so much blood and it was terrifying to consider that it was all hers.

It wasn't the first time she'd found herself at a juncture in her life, staring up at the sky. If the last time heralded a beginning...it was only fitting that this signal an end.


	9. Chapter 8

There was a potent sense of disbelief and shock in the guild come morning, as members started trickling in only to be greeted with the news. It was Lily who found the grocery bag sitting idly on the pathway during the night. Erza and the Exceed were out late, patrolling. In the darkness, the cooled blood was easy to miss, but the lone bag stood out like a sore thumb on the bare street.

They searched the area but despite a few pints of it splashing the road, there was no body to be found. Though, with the volume lost they doubted the person would have lived long enough to make it to a doctor or a healer.

Erza picked up the paper bag and checked inside. Without any body, identification would be next to impossible. Bread, milk, a bottle of wine, chocolate and a jar of pickled beets. Indiscriminate.

Lily bent and put his fingers to the road checking the blood. His nose wasn't quite as sensitive as the Dragon Slayers, or maybe he simply didn't have enough experience tracking with it, but he was skilled enough to recognise the blood.

He stood sharply. Abrupt enough to startle Erza who dropped the bag, the glass bottles smashing, adding milk and wine to the blood flowing toward the drain. Lily looked to her nervously.

"You know who it was?" She asked and he nodded, there were tears prickling her eyes at the expression on his face. It was clearly someone they both knew.

 _"Juvia..."_ Lily whispered, the air leaving him in a slow hiss.

Erza blanched. She'd come to know the woman quite well. Enough to know that she hadn't deserved this.

"Do you... do you _think...?"_ He opened his mouth to breathe life to the question they were both thinking of and Erza cut him off sharply.

" _I don't know..."_ She grit her teeth. Fists trembling _. "_ But I will _personally_ see it meet oblivion if it has!" She snarled and Lily didn't doubt a single word of that. If it had killed her, Erza would see it hunted to the edges of the earth.

"That's if Gajeel or Gray don't get to it first," Lily muttered under his breath. Gajeel didn't handle grief well. Didn't handle rejection or abandonment well, either. Gray on the other hand had a dark streak a mile wide lurking under the surface, and despite his public shows to the contrary, he had feelings for the woman. Maybe not the romantic ones _she'd_ have hoped for, but she was important to him.

Lily shook himself of those kinds of thoughts.

"She's _alive._ I won't believe otherwise unless I see a body to the contrary and all I see is evidence that Juvia fought back. It tried catching her off-guard and failed," He looked to the grocery bag so carefully set down and the cracked brickwork and glass of the neighbouring buildings. The signs of struggle.

"Juvia _is_ rather resourceful!" Erza's face fell however as she took note of the blood again. "But if this is all her blood... she's _gravely_ injured."

"The Dragon Slayers will be able to track her. Her body isn't here, so it must be _somewhere._ I have faith that she's still alive," Lily breathed.

He didn't have to say it, but there were few reasons to take a corpse... so if took her, it stood to reason she may have still been alive.

At that time, anyway.

* * *

Gray was always relatively reserved. If Natsu weren't generally there to wind him up or goad him into a fight, you wouldn't usually hear too much from the ice make mage beyond the odd snarky comment, often uttered on the fringes of conversation.

However, if they thought he was quiet before, it was nothing compared to now. After they broke the news about Juvia, Gray sat down and stopped responding to much beyond the occasional cold stare in reply. Natsu was entirely unwilling to worsen his mood over it and wisely people chose not to mention his attitude.

He watched with sharp, calculating eyes as Makarov organised the search parties. His increasingly somewhat menacing stare matched only by Gajeel's fury. The Dragon Slayer was practically _humming_ with rage. If he clamped his jaw down any harder it looked like he'd break his teeth.

They'd visited the site of the attack but the trail went cold there. No track to follow for their monster. No trace of Juvia beyond the obvious blood. They checked sewers. They checked the buildings. They did everything but tear the road up. And Gajeel was fully intent on doing that before Lily stopped him.

The Exceed had never seen the man so distraught. But Gajeel didn't weep or cry. Didn't tremble. He dealt with the pain of losing his oldest friend in the only way he could.

A fist hit the table so hard Makarov's desk quite literally cracked at its center, Gajeel left snarling, like something not too far removed from a wild animal. His hair seemed to _bristle_ like some beasts.

"Of _course_ I'm gonna kill it if we find it, what kinda stupid fuckin' question is _that?"_ Gajeel looked around at the faces in the room, like their guildmaster had genuinely lost his mind. "Am I goin' crazy here or somethin'? The only way this is gonna end is with me rolling it's head from its _shoulders,"_ He bit out. No one was arguing with him. No one but Makarov.

 _"Gajeel,_ if I've learned anything in my old age it's that monsters don't always have to remain so. If we can help him, we need to try," Makarov knew that there would be resistance to the idea, the creature had killed, _murdered,_ it was unlikely that it could come back from that. His own personal feelings called for swift and violent retribution; he well knew they may end up having no choice but to kill him, but they wouldn't be the guild they were if they didn't at least attempt to find another way.

"And what the fuck gave yah the idea that it _could_ be saved?" Gajeel growled, rage almost boiling over. Behind him, Gray stood, quietly making his exit. Makarov opened his mouth to speak but the debate was interrupted.

"These are the books I'll need," The voice was small, hushed.

Levy slipped in through the door and passed Gray to deposit a list on Makarov's desk, and in an instant, Gajeel knew that the quiet voice of mercy and bleeding hearted sympathy in Makarov's ear, was _her._

The soft, concerned look on her face died when it met his accusing stare. He didn't know why he felt like he'd been betrayed, but he did. Could he even blame her for anything? It was who she was, wasn't it? To her very core she was light and mercy and _forgiveness._ She'd forgiven _him,_ after all. So of _course_ she would be preaching compassion for the thing that gutted him, _murdered_ Juvia. And Gajeel had seen the volume of blood. She wouldn't have survived a wound like that. Gajeel would know all about what was lethal and what wasn't.

He couldn't even bring himself to look at the script mage right then, something in his chest aching. Squeezing him. A rage he hadn't felt in years washing over him. When he noticed Lily's hand on his shoulder he shrugged it off aggressively and made his exit wordlessly following in Gray's unnoticed footsteps.

Gajeel made sure to avoid the look of hurt and confusion he knew would be on Levy's face.

She covered her anguish well while the debate continued in her absence and hurried out after Gajeel. No one seemed to notice her at all as she rushed through the guild after the Dragon Slayer. Too many hurt, angry faces amid the sea of tears to pay attention to two more.

She was half way up the empty street outside when she finally caught up to him.

"Wait!" She called out. She knew he'd heard her from the hesitation in his step but he didn't stop walking. Choosing instead to ignore her.

Levy picked up speed and her brisk jog turned into a run. She managed to catch a hold of his jacket but he didn't stop then either, and she found herself pulled off her feet with the momentum. Her nose came within an inch of concrete, air leaving her lungs in fright as she found herself suspended, her dress pulled tight around her chest. Caught on something strong enough to keep her weight from the ground.

She was still panting from a mixture of shock and exertion when Gajeel lifted and deposited her to her feet.

Levy didn't speak, lost in the pain on his face; the mask of anger barely able to hold the grief back. He wiped at his eyes roughly enough to leave them red and irritated.

"That thing _murdered_ Juvia!" He bit out. His voice wasn't as steady as he was expecting. "And _what,_ you want me to give it a hug and chicken fuckin' soup and hope it feels better?"

"We don't know Juvia's even dead..."

 _"Believe me..._ when I say I've sent enough people packin' through the pearly gates to know how much blood it takes to do it," Gajeel spat. His, were _not_ clean hands.

"We don't _know_ for sure. And Juvia is..." She didn't want to say that Juvia was just as dangerous as Gajeel. Or as _tough._ He'd come fairly close to those pearly gates himself and she wasn't sure saying it would have the intended effect.

".. well, _you_ know her better than anyone. She's capable of _anything,"_ She said, full of hope.

A few days ago Gajeel would have agreed with Levy's sentiment but he hadn't been almost killed at that point. This thing was no joking matter and while he wanted to believe Juvia was okay, his worst fears carried a lot of weight given present circumstances.

"I wanna believe that... I _do,"_ He found himself whispering.

"Whoever is doing this.. they're _sick,_ Gajeel, and with something we know _nothing_ about.. something that turns Dragon Slayers into murderous monsters," She looked up into his face with eyes so big they could have swallowed him, and Gajeel felt his anger melt at the hurt, the fear, the uncertainty in them. "Who's to say that whatever happened to _him_ couldn't happen to Natsu, or Wendy...happen to _you..._ and we learn _nothing_ if we just kill him," Levy took his hand in hers, now limply hanging by his side.

"I didn't give up on _you,"_ She hoped he'd see reason but his expression hardened at those words; the man she was gradually coming to know, pushed aside in an instant. The guy that teased her while he bled to death, and asked her out for coffee after; there was little left of the man who saved her from a collapsing stage and blushed at a brief flash of skin.

" _Well, maybe you should've,"_ Gajeel bit out coldly. Quietly. His words aimed at her like a blade.

If he'd been expecting her to cry or shrink away from him she did the opposite, stepping closer.

 _"Never..."_ She poked him in the chest for emphasis. Her voice was steady but her hand wavered. "... _going...to happen!"_ She enunciated.

Gajeel wanted to hate her so badly, but couldn't. He wanted to scream at her for being naive and to stop wasting her breath but he didn't. All he could summon the will to do, was turn and walk away.

A part of him honestly crumbled when she didn't follow. He could hear her labored breathing, her erratically beating heart, smell her tears. For a second he wished he was the old Gajeel, because what would _he_ have cared?

But he'd had a taste of real living. Laughter, trust. A peaceful night's sleep free of the demons in his own head. It wasn't _war_ he'd been craving in his youth, it had been purpose. _Belonging._ At the time he'd been taught to believe that Dragon Slayers were creatures of violence and destruction, and in Phantom he'd stopped caring about everyone else, because what had they ever cared about _him._ But _Levy_ cared. Fairy Tail cared, too. Saw all those horrid little black marks, a lifetime of sin and still believed in his capacity to change.

He made it about a hundred yards before another voice halted him.

"Metal breath!" It annoyed Gajeel a little to know he _actually_ answered to that, turning to meet Gray as the man leaned against the side wall, mostly out of sight. Typically shirtless.

Gajeel heaved a sigh of exasperation but didn't speak, noting a familiar look in Gray's eyes. He saw his own anger, willingness to kill reflected in them, and they chilled his furor in only the way a true mirror could, when monsters found themselves faced with their own image.

"I need your nose... and I already know that Natsu and Laxus are gonna side with the old man," Gray spoke, something dark slithering beneath the surface of his composed expression. "I'm going on a little hunt. _You in?"_

* * *

When Gray had suggested that they start their search, not in the city, but in the hilltops over it, Gajeel knew that he was aware of more than he was saying. It was one of the problems that came with having to work with the ice mage on occasion. Gray kept _too_ much to himself. Often to the detriment of those working with him.

It was a short trek out of the town where he led the Dragon Slayer as far as the boulder fields and stopped, looking round cautiously ensuring they weren't being followed. He took the time to wash his hands and face in the river, try to remove some of the smell of sweat, Gajeel didn't want to tell him how ineffective that was; the man still stank of it, but there was something else on the wind now. Strong enough to follow. _Juvia's blood._ Others, as well.

"You _fucker!_ You found it's lair?" Gajeel spared a raspy, appreciative laugh. He honestly couldn't believe it.

"More like a general location," The ice mage remarked. "That earthquake originated in these hills. That's _no_ coincidence. The first victims were also from a little hamlet just the other side of that ridge," He pointed off to the side.

It struck Gajeel that Levy had mentioned this two days ago and it had completely slipped his mind in the chaos that followed; the possible connection between the two seemingly unrelated events. She was _smart._ Far smarter than anyone else he'd met, smarter than him, for sure.

The Dragon Slayer picked up Juvia's scent strongest on an enormous boulder of granite. At its centre a large patch of dried blood.

"The dance hall where Juvia was attacked.. what's that outer wall made of?"

 _"Granite..."_ Gray looked like he was considering it. The idea sinking in. This field was _full_ of granite boulders. "... fairly sure anyway," He'd probably passed the same building a thousand times and never really taken much notice.

"The other murders were near the town hall... that's got fucking granite on the outer walls, too," Gajeel knew he'd hit the mark. They'd just discovered the Dragon Slayer's element. And possibly how he was moving in and out of Magnolia without being seen.

Gajeel examined the blood on the rock but he didn't see much around it. It looked like it just appeared on it, dropped from on high. He knew there was a distinct likelihood that the creature might have been able to move between its native stone. Use it as a door from one place to another.

Gray barely spared the bloody mess a second glance, his eyes drawn toward the rock face nearby, a large opening sitting there, ripping into the stone and disappearing into darkness.

"I'm willing to wager that's were that thing's been hiding out," Gray pointed at it. "You hear anything?"

"Nothing," Gajeel shook his head. "But there's a serious stink in there. I can tell from here."

"Then how about we take a look?"

Gajeel was never going to refuse and he followed closely as they approached. The stench inside was overwhelming. Blood and faeces, fear, anxiety, _pure_ misery.

If Juvia's body wasn't in the city, then it was going to be here but there were too many overwhelming odours to tell by smell alone.

The entrance in the rock opened up into an large expanse, not that much bigger than the guild hall. Sunlight glittered in from an opening in the ceiling where the roof had collapsed, the vegetation growing down the walls from above indicated that that was some number of years ago by this point. The rock lay scattered about, enormous pieces jutting out of the pond at the center of the cave. The liquid was stagnant and dirty. Tainted with blood.

A few feet in and Gajeel's feet started slipping in muck, his weight sinking him and making an awfully loud squelching sound as he walked. If they were hoping to be sneaky, they failed, Natsu could probably hear Gajeel stumble and stagger about back at the guild.

Gray stopped at the waters edge. Touching his fingers against its murky surface and drawing back as though it burned him.

"This isn't _water!"_ He gasped.

Gajeel fixed him with a strange look.

"Looks and smells exactly like water to me, princess," He retorted, but Gray had paled significantly. Quite a feat for a man with his complexion. Gajeel rarely saw him look so shaken and that was enough for him to take the comment seriously. "If it's _not_ water... then what the fuck is it?"

" _Ice Shell_... This is the remnants of ice shell magic" He whispered so low even Gajeel had to strain to hear it.

The magic ice make mages used as a last resort in a fight. Using their own life force to permanently seal something away. Though, they'd discovered from experience that with moonlight it was possible to eventually dissolve it.

Gray looked up at the opening in the roof and Gajeel followed him. If they assumed the center of the pool had been their Dragon Slayer, it would have been perfectly positioned to catch the moonlight.

It was clear. The blood moon had broken the ice shell holding it and a deranged Dragon Slayer, from who knew when, had come tearing out.

Gajeel scanned the cavern carefully, walking its perimeter but there was no evidence that Juvia had been taken there. The area was littered with stains of blood and pieces of torn clothing, rotting flesh, but none of it hers. Her scent was strongest on the rock outside, but in here it was faint.

"Juvia was never here," Gajeel finally admitted outloud.

Gray punched the nearest rock face.

 _"Well, then where the hell is she?"_

* * *

Notes

Hope you're still hanging in there! Huge thank you to everyone reading, and commenting or secretly following. Your reviews and messages literally make my day.

Where's Juvia, you might ask? Next chapter is going to cover that. And you'll be happy to know, it's almost ready to go. I'm terrible for the cliffhangers, but I don't post without the followup being 90% done.


	10. Chapter 9

Juvia still despised the rain, but pinned and injured the first patter of cold water on her cheek was the most wonderful feeling in the whole world. Just a light shower. Barely enough to darken the pavement around her, not enough to wash away the terrible stain of blood, but enough for _her. Enough._

When it lunged to sink its teeth into her, instead of flesh it met nothing but wet pavement, the woman underneath him dissolving. It pulled back confused. It's one good eye blinking stupidly. Uncertain as to just what had actually happened. A pool of water where a woman had been just a moment before.

While her disappearance still had the Dragon Slayer stumped, Juvia's physical form surged back into being knee driving up and striking it hard between the legs. The Dragon Slayer pulled back, rolling to the side and off of her with a breathless, choking cough; face a mix of shock and sweet, sweet agony. She glanced up at the sky she'd inadvertently darkened, her face wet. It was _her_ rain. Spending most of your life trying to get away from it and it turns out to be the one thing to saves it.

Juvia had forgotten that despite how much she'd grown to hate it, it was powerful. The rain made _her_ powerful.

Juvia climbed to her knees and then to her shaky feet, moving backwards, and putting some distance between them. She glared at it, pressing her hand to her side. The blood flow had stemmed significantly since the rains had begun, lending her new strength, but she wasn't strong enough to go hand to hand with it again. She needed alternatives.

"Juvia is the rain. You can't _hurt_ the rain," Saying it out loud steadied her. Helped her believe it. But the creature wasn't listening anymore. A single yellow eye narrowed on her. It's breathing ragged. She could still _smell_ it, the stink on its breath, even at the current distance.

Juvia didn't have the power to keep throwing spells at it in the hopes that they'd be effective. She knew that a victory here required an angle. She noted its eye. Taken by the detective with her pistol and an idea formed. Thinking hard she focused a condensed astream of water into a fine, pressurised point, firing it at speed like a bullet. It hit with a refined force and she heard the most satisfying yelp. The sound made her smile.

Energized by success she made it back a few more feet, hitting the Dragon Slayer again and again with her pressurised streams of water, the attacks cutting through his still forming stone scales. Juvia grinned like a demon when it finally staggered back, crying out as one of her strikes hit his face, just under the wound left from his lost eye ripping open the cheek.

"Drip... _Drop,"_ She struck one more time and she must have hit the same spot twice because it passed clean through an armoured shoulder, hitting the wall behind and breaking brick.

It screamed, clutching it's arm before roaring at her, racing for her, but the distance she'd been cultivating gave her the time to think and respond, and it collided with her only to pass clean through, stumbling, sopping and soggy to the road.

Juvia laughed and the harsh barking sound seemed to resonate with what was left of the Dragon Slayers conscious mind. Juvia gathered herself, seeing something more than madness in the man's face as he turned to her. She paused in her assault; despite her history, Juvia was far from heartless.

"Do you have a name?" She asked, if there was ever a point to get an answer, it was now.

The question took it aback, her words sinking in. It finally registered the water mage, registered itself, glancing down at bloody clawed hands with a distant horror. A momentary realisation of all that he'd done. Of what he was becoming.

"God's... so much _blood..."_ His hands shook violently, thoughts careening from one train to another. Too many emotions to fully process trying to express themselves on his stony face.

"I keep... _she's gone..._ Do you know where she is? Have you seen my wife? " He finally said to Juvia, but she shook her head dumbly. "I see her.. but she keeps disappearing... Over and over again," The Dragon Slayer doubled with a pain that had nothing to do with it's injuries and she watched with mild horror as diseased stone scales spread just that little bit further, growing over and into the wounds her attacks had left in his body.

His ruined face was now almost completely covered; the gaping holes in his flesh immortalised in stone. He raked his cheeks with those bloody claws, practically shaking like a leaf. When he looked at her again, his face had changed once more and Juvia saw the barely restrained rage filling it now. The madness returning. He smashed his closed fists down onto the cobbles. "THEY TOOK HER FROM ME!" He roared.

But Juvia was no longer in his sights, and he'd regained enough of his senses to realise she was not who he'd been looking for, and she was _certainly_ not easy prey. He took a step backward, and another, before turning toward the nearest surface of polished granite and vanishing, leaving Juvia where she stood. A bloodied, beaten mess.

The rains replenished some of what she'd lost and she felt her veins practically _burn_ from the magic in them now _,_ her heart beat speeding up, intense waves of pain washing over her, enough to make her forget about her broken hand. But the black spots in her vision had cleared, leaving only exhaustion to torment her. Hastily she ripped material from her skirt and tied it tightly around her waist. Though weak, she knew she was going to live.

As Juvia felt the panic and adrenaline fade, she slunk to her knees, her form coming apart, gravity taking her liquid self to the water drainage system, carrying her away from the area. She was in no fit state to walk and wasn't willing to risk the chance that it might come back for her. Though, hopefully she'd wounded it enough to keep it off the streets for a time.

It wasn't lost on her that she'd left a lot of blood back on that footpath but out of everyone to find themselves in the Dragon Slayer's sights, she'd faced the demon and lived. Juvia laughed to herself as she considered how long she'd rub that in Gajeel's face for.

Victory, such as it was, was the sweet, giddiness inducing thought that lulled her to the borders of consciousness. When Juvia finally came to her senses, blinding sunlight was scorching her eyes and there was water lapping at her feet. The river.

She dragged herself onto her knees with a groan, pebbles digging in, the wound in her side tender and stinging something rotten, she honestly felt like someone hit her with a train, but it wasn't the worst. Not by far.

Sbe took in her surroundings. The riverbank was unfamiliar and Magnolia no where in sight but she was alive. Juvia had survived a fight with something that by all rights should have killed her; she wasn't going to let herself die _now._ Juvia knew that if she wanted to get home, she only need follow the river upstream, back the way she came.

Limping, she set off toward home.

* * *

Gajeel had no answer for Gray.

Juvia was just _gone_ and _he_ was as out of ideas as he was anger. The Dragon Slayers rage seemed to be a fleeting thing these days and the more he saw Gray unravel the cooler his temper got.

And the ice mage was _furious._ Gajeel watched him run his fingers through his hair and pull in frustration. It was obvious that the man had been convinced he'd find her here. Find the creature. But there was nothing here to fight. No one here to save.

Gajeel watched as the sky darkened over them. The cave dimming as a light rain trickled in through the opening above. If there was ever a more appropriate symbol of the mood shift, he didn't know.

Under his feet, the mud was already making it difficult to move and Gajeel knew that with the deposits of granite in the chamber, if the creature did appear, they'd be at a serious disadvantage.

He would have _major_ problems fighting like this.

Thinking clearly for the first time that day, Gajeel groaned, realising that their best bet was to retreat and come back with reinforcements. Juvia wouldn't have agreed with vengeance, not to say that that sentiment would have been enough to stop Gajeel from killing the thing responsible for her death, but it was enough to make him second guess tossing his life away in the process.

"We should get out of here and come back when there's less chance of us becomin' dog food," Gajeel whispered. Gray turned his rage filled gaze back on the Dragon Slayer.

"So what, we run away?" Gray growled out. "I'm _not_ running!"

"Look around you, princess, fighting it here would be like fightin' Natsu in a fuckin' volcano," The creature had the advantage and Gajeel knew it.

"I don't care. So go if you want, but _I'm_ staying!" Gray snapped.

Gajeel reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder with a grip strong enough to bruise and a glare hot enough to incinerate the ice mage.

"Juvia would have killed _herself_ before she'd let you think about doing something so stupid," Gajeel was hit with a strange sense of paranoia, that he'd missed something vitally important in that realization. Something more relevant than the obvious. "I must have lost my fucking mind back there thinkin' this was a smart fuckin' idea," He ground out under his breath.

 _"Juvia..."_ Gray started but stumbled over his words, incapable of finishing.

Gajeel wasn't sure what he'd meant to say, maybe he'd planned to reaffirm to Gajeel that it didn't matter what _she_ thought, cause she was dead. But the Dragon Slayer reckoned that was too cold, even for an ice mage. Gajeel wasn't willing to entertain it.

 _"Juvia..._ was a fucking _moron_ for trailin' after you like she did. Woman took down guilds, fuck, she drowned one of Jose's best spies in his sleep on a job and he never found out ... Not a soul was stupid enough to tell him," Gajeel bared just the briefest fang. "And here she is, following you round like a _lapdog..."_ He pointed at Gray accusingly. "You didn't even respect her enough to tell her you weren't interested...and now that she's gone, you wanna play the brooding, vengeful _hero?_ Get a fucking grip. If you felt a damn thing for her, you wouldn't be so willin' to throw away one of the only things that crazy bitch _actually_ cared about," Gajeel growled out.

Gray looked at him in shock. The words sinking in. Gajeel of course meaning _him._

"If this is such a bad idea, why're you even here?"

"Cause I'm fuckin' _stupid!"_ Gajeel said resentfully. Almost choking on the admittance.

He noted Gray's eyes had turned glassy and it crossed his mind that the man was on the verge of completely breaking down. Gajeel suddenly knew that if he really wanted to do anything for Juvia, it wouldn't be killing the monster, it would be getting Gray the hell out of there before he did something terribly final.

Before another word could be spoken they heard it. The low, rumbling growl from the darkness. The air got just that little thicker. The foul stench just that little bit worse.

As enthusiastic as both Gray and Gajeel had been about squaring off against it, actually facing it brought with it a new desire. Everything about it inspired a fear on the most primal levels. One look from it and they found themselves at war with the urge to run.

" _Where's Juvia?_ " Gray snarled. Clenching his fist to steady its sudden tremble.

The Dragon Slayer cocked it's head in thought and put a hand against what they now noticed was a gaping wound in its shoulder. A yellow eye looked at Gray and it spoke.

" _Drip... drop_..." It repeated quietly.

Blades of ice immediately ripped across the cave toward it, Gray's face twisted in renewed fury as he launched the attack without any warning, almost clipping Gajeel in his haste. The Iron Dragon Slayer yelling as he threw himself to the side.

Gray's scaled opponent moved quickly however, too quick for anything as slow as the icy projectiles to actually hit; the ice colliding harmlessly with the stone behind where it had been standing.

"We need to _go!"_ Gajeel scrambled to his feet and grabbed him forcefully again but Gray pulled loose.

"No, it knows where she is!"

"Princess, I don't think it knows who _it_ even is!" Gajeel reached for him again but found himself rooted to the floor. Boots encased as ice appeared around him, growing quickly up as far as his chest. Painful, numbing and cold. It only took moments before Gajeel lost the majority of the feeling below his shoulders. He roared at Gray. Because of all the stupid, reckless things the guy had ever done, and in spite of his apparent composure he'd done his share, this, _this,_ was without a doubt the stupidest.

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Gajeel roared at him, struggling frantically. Already seeing how this was going to end.

But Gray wasn't interested in listening to Gajeel anymore. The man wanted his pound of flesh and he was already moving toward the creature, fists raised, ice gauntlets forming, intending to collect. The Stone Dragon Slayer looked back at him with distain. Alert and wary, but unconcerned with its safety.

Gray swung quickly, the ice gauntlet on his right hand changing, elongating into a long blade while in motion, but it wasn't fast enough and the stone slayer angled his head away from the strike. Gray missed him by inches but it may as well have been miles.

In the seconds that followed, Gray realised his error as he was sent on the defensive, fast claws targeting his stomach as he was forced to backpeddle. As skilled as the ice mage was, the strikes he managed to land didn't do much damage beyond aggravation and those claws _demolished_ any ice armour he generated to protect himself. He could make anything from ice, but it was _still_ just ice.

Injured, the Dragon Slayer did however make mistakes. One of which allowed Gray a grip on its wrist and using his ice to immobilise it, encasing it in ice, much like Gajeel. But _unlike_ Gajeel, he didn't seem even remotely bothered by the cold and his imprisonment lasted brief seconds. Expanding wings breaking his cage into a thousand pieces, a chunk of which sailed Gray's way, striking him on the head and opening him at the temple. Red rivulets now running down his shirt.

A blow to add insult to injury. Ice mage killed by flying chunk of his own ice were not what he wanted on his tombstone.

Gajeel thrashed and screamed, unable to move or feel a thing below the neck now, all while Gray found himself suspended off his feet, a fist wrapped round his throat; the man struggling while a single clawed digit was pressed slowly, lightly at first against his abdomen. Pressure applying slowly and gradually as skin parted and Gray realised thus would not be quick.

But it paused, eyes locked to the mouth of the cave, at something neither Gray or Gajeel could see from their positions.

"Drip..." It repeated with a growl, dropping Gray abruptly only to turn and break into a run, _fleeing_ the scene through the nearest slab of granite.

Gajeel knew the flicker in its eyes and it had looked like _fear._

Something struck Gajeel's prison and he fell on his face with series of muttered curses, broken ice all round, and mud up to his elbows as he glared all manner of unholy daggers at Gray who he was viciously visualising in a full body cast. Feeling returning to his cold limbs as he noticed the ice mage was staring open mouthed passed him, and turning, Gajeel saw why.

Words almost failed him.

"Thought you were _dead!"_ Gajeel breathed. Oh, he owed so many apologies to Levy at this point he was debating even the _attempt_ to mend things between them.

"Juvia heard you from the river," She said casually enough to make Gajeel finally question her sanity. She was clutching her hand to her chest, her dress ripped and stained bloody but she appeared fine for the most part.

The thing had run when it seen her. Actually run away. Gajeel was finding it hard to wrap his head around that.

His friend had gone toe to toe with it and beat it badly enough that it chose to retreat rather than go a second round. Something warm spread outward from his chest and he found himself stifling the desire to laugh. Relief. Pride. Gajeel hadn't thought the woman had it in her these days.

Gray seemed lost as to what to do or say. A thousand things on his face he didn't seem like he had the first idea how to express.

Thinking he lost her had legitimately sent him careening off the precipice of sane, rational thought.

A blue blur sped by Gajeel, knocking him clean off his feet and sending him back to the mud, face first. The sensation of very liquid mud trickling in his ears made him squirm, shooting upwards, batting at his head to get it out.

"Juvia didn't think she would see her Gray ever again!"

She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. He kept his demeanour impassive, nonchalant about it the whole thing and playing up his usual routine around her. But looking up, Gajeel saw the brief smile. The way his eyes closed as he drank her in, sagging just a little in her arms. Deflating. One hand coming up and around her shoulders.

Gajeel had thought she was a fool, chasing after some loser who clearly had no interest in romance.

As it turned out, _Gray_ was the fool. Cause the man was actually, clearly, _stupidly_ in love with her.

Gajeel stood and tried wringing the mud from his hair, wiping it from his face but it was pointless. There was too much of it everywhere and he ended up rubbing just as much on as he did off. He glared at the pair of them.

"You two fuckin' deserve each other!" He said though his words lacked any real bite to them.

Something was worrying him. Something tickling the back of his conscious mind. Affection, love in all its forms made people stupid. They did insane and reckless things. Acted out of character. It had the ability to twist them up. He saw it in Phantom. You could have the most stalwart individual, unbendable, but if you got your hands on something they loved, something they cared about, they turned to putty. Incredibly _stupid_ putty.

Maybe it was why he was so unnerved by just how much Levy seemed to care about him, because he got the feeling she was planning on doing something uncharacteristically _dumb._

 _And it was probably his entire fault..._

* * *

 _Notes_

I'm not a fan of killing characters for no good reason. I also don't like torturing them for the development of others. This is still a Gajevy story but I'm not going to put poor Juvia through for nothing ;)

Next chapter is Gajeel's attempted apology date. Cause you know he owes her more than coffee and he also knows she's up to something... he's gonna find out what.


	11. Chapter 10

Nearly a week since Juvia's rise from believed oblivion and not a single sighting. No attacks. No more bloodshed. Saggart had been right when she said the council would take this from her. Already agents of obliviousness were stalking around asking ridiculous questions. They brought Gajeel in for questioning again, despite numerous instances to date where witnesses could easily, eagerly determine that he and the rogue Dragon Slayer were in _fact_ separate entities. Detective Saggart being one such witness.

The sight of her frustratingly hitting a uniformed Knight with an empty folder screaming "MAYBE YOU SHOULD READ THE FILES YOU STOLE!? " was a pretty comical sight but it highlighted a major problem already.

The council weren't really _interested_ in fact... or apprehending the real target. It was clear from talking with them that they already believed the rogue Dragon Slayer had more than likely died from his injuries.

The fact of the matter was that they wanted someone to lock up. Someone to blame. And if they couldn't come back with the actual culprit of _this_ crime, well, they weren't planning on returning without _someone._

Magnolia may have calmed since the attacks stopped, but Fairy Tail was still on high alert. Everyone under orders not to cause trouble or paint themselves a target. Natsu had been handed a job and told to leave town. A lot of the members following suit. Gajeel would have done the same if the council knights hadn't told him specifically to remain. It was clear they had him in their sights, intent on finding something they could use.

Unable to take jobs and under constant suspicion, Gajeel had to focus himself on something and he found himself intent on catching up to Levy, who'd currently taken to avoiding him. It was a trivial pursuit he realised, but it was all he currently had besides training, and it was difficult to do that with his relationship issues gnawing at him and Lily constantly buzzing in his ear to fix it.

Gajeel was trying but he found it near impossible to be silent as his sensitive nose protested the dust that the library seemed to generate in ever increasing quantities, getting worse every time he was forced to venture inside its walls. Thick and itchy, saturating the air.

As small as she was, Levy McGarden wasn't difficult to find in the near empty library and Gajeel quickly spotted a mop of blue hair hunched over a table reading from a book almost bigger than she was. How her spine contorted, locked in that curve for hours at a time without permanently crippling her was one of the many curious aspects of her studious nature.

Gajeel never failed to find _something_ impressive about her.

"A paranoid person might think yah were avoidin' 'em," Gajeel startled her so badly she almost jumped out of her chair. A shriek piercing the silence.

Putting her hand to her chest and breathing hard, she glared at him.

"Well... maybe I _am,"_ She retorted honestly, trying to calm her racing heart. The words pained Gajeel in ways he wasn't expecting, he swallowed, looking over her shoulder at the tome she was reading from.

"Whatcha readin'?" He huffed, taking a closer look and paling. _"The Compendium of Dragon Slayers and their histories?_ " He repeated out loud with more than a little sense of wonder. He looked at her wide eyed. "Where the _fuck_ did this come from?"

"From the Boscan Royal library... on loan mind you, and under guard," She nodded toward a book shelf a few dozen feet away were a quiet, well-dressed man was sitting out of sight, watching the both of them sharply.

"We only got it at all because out of all the Dragon Slayers in existence, the bulk are here in Fairy Tail, and...Makarov..." Gajeel had leaned over her to look at the book, examining the page she'd landed on, his proximity making her lose her train of thought, her mouth suddenly dry, almost completely stupified as his hair brushed her bare shoulder, her breath catching at the shiver that hit her.

Gajeel ran his fingers over the name at the top of her chosen page and he knew she'd just done the impossible.

"... actually _found_ the guy?" Gajeel muttered, smirk dying as he spotted the date. "Is that date accurate?" He mumbled.

"Yeah, 500 years in ice," She said and Gajeel whistled. That was a _long_ time to be trapped.

 _"How?"_ He asked, utterly clueless.

"The symbol on his shoulder was an insignia only General's received and there were only four ever recorded to get it," She pulled out notepad where she'd jotted down some names in her pretty, elaborate handwriting.

"The first Dragon Slayer, Irene Belserion, Gail Carbine, Marc Carbine and Braca Valdis. Gail and Marc are both buried together, I can't be sure but they _might_ have been married, the word doesn't directly translate, although it does keep coming up..." Levy went entirely quiet her expression drenched in worry. "Gajeel, Irene Belserion actually... _turned_ into a Dragon," Her words made his breath hitch. He'd been hoping _this_ Dragon Slayers transformation was a once off occurrence, a fluke.

"It does mention that the new generation of Dragon Slayers were more human... maybe that's why you and the others haven't started changing?" She smiled at him, for a second he forgot that she was still probably mad at him. "But that also means he could _possibly_ be stronger, too."

Gajeel didn't need to be told that. He already knew. Facing this Dragon Slayer he felt almost childlike. Even the aura it emitted made him feel like his insides were nothing but ice. He thought that prepared, he'd feel differently but looking at it brought up the same fear he'd felt at his apartment.

It wasn't a comforting thought.

"So Braca is our guy?" Gajeel finally breathed when he'd recovered enough to respond without losing it.

Levy turned away from him.

"Yeah...and the history mentions him murdering some other Dragon Slayers when he lost his..." She frowned again. Eyebrows scrunching up in frustration. "There's that _word_ again... partner?" Levy rarely found a word she had difficulty with but this was one of them.

"The word you are looking for is 'mate', young miss," The guard assigned to the book had approached while they were engrossed, hearing the discussion. "It has no direct translation because it does not infer to anything but the old Dragon Slayer bonds. Many would simply marry, others forged deeper, more dangerous connections," He said.

 _"Dangerous?"_ Levy asked. The man had introduced himself simply as Borne when he'd arrived with the book Makarov had sent for at her request. The magic Council had also asked for it but had been blatantly refused. The two powers were seemingly _not_ on good terms. Borne was the book's constant shadow. He ensured it was cared for correctly...also made sure it didn't disappear into a Fiorian Magic Council vault.

"Yes, because the death of one meant the death of their mate, and during the war, _many_ died," He said soberly. "The mating process also often changed many Dragon Slayers. Made them possessive, controlling. Dragons mate for life, but human relationships are a great deal more complicated... and finding yourself eternally joined with someone so suffocating, so demanding, so _volatile._ It _rarely_ ended well."

"You sure know lot about it," Gajeel commented warily.

"I've been it's guard long enough to have read it several times over..."He indicated the book. "... a lot of the difficult terms have a base in old Boscan, should you require any _further_ translations, you may ask. The sooner you're finished, the sooner we can return to Bosco," He smiled politely, returning to his seat.

Levy looked at the dates for Gail and Marc, the mated couple. Gail died and less than two weeks later her partner followed. Her death was listed as a stray arrow...

"... her mate died of something they called 'heart sickness'," Levy muttered in horror.

Gajeel was white as a sheet and she felt a stab of pity.

"Is that why he's a mess? His mate dies, and he goes psycho?" Gajeel scratched the back of his head awkwardly looking suddenly bashful. "It doesn't happen to mention the difference between mated and married, does it?"

Levy felt a smile twitch at her lips, Gajeel was looking mighty awkward.

"No, but there's families listed. I don't know what it involves but sex and marriage seem to happen plenty without it. Lots of children born to Dragon Slayers, plenty of marriages, too... but few of these _mates,"_ She reassured him with a barely concealed smirk. Knowing what they knew, there was a possibility that the Dragon Slayer causing all these problems may not live much longer.

Levy would have actually laughed at him if she weren't still annoyed. She could see his brain run through all his little trysts with the paranoia of someone unfamiliar with the idea of long term commitments.

"I'm fairly sure if you _had_ accidentally ended up mated to someone, you'd know about it, Gajeel," She rolled her eyes as he took a seat, heavily planting himself in the chair. He fixed her with look.

"So... take it you're still mad at me?" He was direct. Gajeel wasn't sure he knew how to be otherwise. She took a slow breath.

"I might be..." She closed the book in front of her and no sooner than she had its protector was in reach.

"Are you finished for today, Miss McGarden?" He asked and Levy nodded, reordering her notes as the man took the book from the table and gingerly carried it away, Gajeel watching him leave before turning back to the conversation at hand.

"And if I told yah I was sorry and you were right about maybe catching it.. _him_ alive?" He'd come to realise that the Dragon Slayer's affliction was something that he couldn't control... and without knowing more about it, they couldn't say for certain it wouldn't affect the other Dragon Slayers some day.

"Well, _you've_ certainly changed your tune... what happened to killing it first and questions later?" Levy asked, genuinely surprised by his turnaround.

"Juvia agreed with yah, says the guild should try save him if they can...and, well, one blue haired _terror_ mad at me is already one too many," He flashed a grin at the way she pouted.

 _"Terror?"_ She rasped. Offended at the comparison. Levy sucked in a breath, knowing he was intentionally winding her up. "Do you _mean_ to get me mad? Or are you just _oblivious?"_ She huffed and Gajeel looked away for a second, a grin tugging at his mouth.

"Well... yer pretty _cute_ when you're angry..." He pressed his hands to his cheeks, scrunching his face up mockingly imitating her. "... yah got this adorable little pout," He laughed as she batted at his arms.

"You are such an asshole..." She said through laughter " _Fine,_ if you apologise and get me that coffee you owe me, I'll forgive you!"

Gajeel relaxed in his chair. A weight lifted off him.

"I'm _sorry_ I chased that thing down, you were right... it was stupid... and we should try find out more. Killin' him shouldn't be the first thing we jump to," He said but her expression was still expectant. "What?" He asked, unsure of what else he should be apogising for.

"You told me I should've given up on you," She said, voice growing small. "I need you to tell me you were wrong. I don't think you're some lost cause, but it's not me that needs to really believe it," She whispered.

Gajeel felt the words in his brain stutter. He was trying, but he'd spent a long time being not so great a person, and he knew it was a slippery slope... but it was clear to him now how much he'd changed. It _wasn't_ hopeless. The fact that she still seemed to believe in him was a certain proof, all on its own.

"Maybe it's not..." He rasped, earning him a smile. For the first time he may have actually believed it.

"Well, _that's_ good, cause I have _terrible_ taste in men and I was kinda _hoping_ this was an exception," She beamed at him.

Levy had a rather gloomy dating history. Part of the reason she'd spent the last number of years avoiding romance beyond the pages of her books. But this, whatever this was turning into felt right. And for all the missteps she was coming to accept that Gajeel was just _complicated. Very, very complicated._ But he wasn't a bad guy.

"Still _might_ have crappy taste..." Gajeel felt one of his eyebrows rising. ".. _. I_ certainly wouldn't go out with me," He grinned wolfishly at her.

Levy responded with an overly sweet, doe eyed smile, shaking her head.

 _"Yes,_ but we've already established that you make _stupid_ decisions and have zero good judgement... _so?"_ She came back with, waiting expectantly for Gajeel's response.

Gajeel stood carefully, rubbing his chin in thought.

 _"So_ _..._ eh... how about I get you that coffee, then?" He finished.

There was a satisfied, almost smug look on Levy's face. She sat back and crossed her arms, looking particularly devious.

"You _know..._ I'm thinking now you might owe me a _dinner,_ too," She teased him.

Gajeel laughed.

"My wallets aching already... didn't realise shrimps were this demandin _...owwwwww!"_ He yelped as she reached over and pinched him. "Do I need to make yah iron mitts or somethin'?" He joked, rubbing his side where her small fingers had dug in through his shirt, reminding him to behave.

"Depends on how _aggravating_ you're planning to be."

"Well, wouldn't say I _plan_ it... just sorta _happens,"_ Which was entirely too true. Her laugh, he noted, made his insides churn nervously. His palms sweat. His skin sweaty.

She was still laughing as they wandered down the street together, a strange looking couple. One smiling and laughing while the other glaring darkly at anyone who looked their way. They stood out, turning more than a few heads. Gajeel honestly found the attention unsettling.

Levy was finding that it was near impossible to stay angry at him. Trying to was a repeatable exercise in absolute failure. He annoyed her, waited for her to explode and smiled that silly smile of his cracking a joke or making an off the cuff sweet remark, evaporating her bad mood like mist.

She brought him to her favorite coffee shop and let him order it to go while they walked, arguing about the merits of pizza verses pasta in relation to the dinner Gajeel was happy to be debating. After all, he'd asked her out for coffee, and while still mad at him she'd wrangled a dinner out of him, too. He wasn't _exactly_ losing here.

"You and Juvia seem close," She said out of nowhere and Gajeel paused mid-term on the cobbles. Juvia was one of Gajeel's oldest friends but the origins of their friendship was also a reminder of crappier times.

"Weren't always... just wanted to get some experience against a water mage, yah know?" He was suddenly sober. The mood darkening. "...but she didn't want anything from me. Wasn't lookin' to rack up any favours or dig up any dirt," Gajeel remembered how quiet and withdrawn she'd been. It used to be one of his favorite things about her. She rarely started unnecessary conversation and was meticulous in the jobs she did. Clean, quick, methodical, quiet and never anything but straight with him. Being around her also meant people didn't bother him, they fast found themselves unwilling to deal with her perpetual rain.

It was an unlikely friendship. Initially he scared people away from her before she learned how to do it herself.

"You look out for each other, it's pretty sweet," Levy muttered tucking some hair behind her ear. Taking him back out of those memories.

Gajeel found himself transfixed by her hand, the way she brushed the strands aside. She did it delicately, nimble fingers carefully pushing it out of her face and he absently imagined her hands in his hair. Wondered what it would feel like to hold her. Touch her.

"Hey, _Gajeel?"_ Levy waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention, the iron mage having completely zoned out.

"Just hungry..." He offered as a brief explanation. Though, not for food right at _that_ particular moment.

His own suddenly lewd visualisations took him aback a little. Despite his past experience he rarely felt affected by something as distracting as lust these days. His youth had been a bit of a blur, but getting older and joining Phantom, romance became too much of an obstacle and he lost pretty much all interest in persuing it.

Sure, half of the women in Fairy Tail walked around a few scant scraps of material away from totally naked and it didn't result in even a blip. And here Levy McGarden has a few loose locks of hair come free of her headband and he's left straining against his pants at the thought of putting his fingers through them.

Since she roped him into dinner, she let him pick the restaurant and they found themselves at a small, unloved looking little bistro off one of the side streets. She would have normally overlooked it; the restaurant was otherwise empty and the jaded decor inside looked unappealing but Gajeel was relatively insistant and the delicious smells wafting from inside lured her happily in behind him.

"This place is good," Gajeel said with a certainty that surprised her.

"You come here often?" She asked and he snorted at her.

"Nah, never been before..." He tapped his nose. "... but Dragon Slayer noses make picking out good food pretty easy," He smirked at her.

 _"Useful,_ I got food poisoning on my last date, ended up in a hospital bed for two weeks..." Levy recalled, groaning at the memory. "... and the sad thing is that wasn't even my _worst._ The date before that the guy tried slipping something in my drink," She smiled comfortingly at the look of anger slowly creeping into Gajeel's eyes. "Don't worry, I am a _wizard_ you know. I might be small but I can take care of myself. I'll have you know it took them _three days_ to detach the knife and fork from his hands and the city guards were there waiting when they did," Levy straightened her back proudly. "My magical crazy glue skills are _almost_ famous," She said to his raucous laughter.

"You've got a bit of a dangerous streak, dontcha?" Gajeel was wiping tears from his eyes but he saw the way she chewed her lip, light blush tickling her cheeks.

"People picked on me for my size a lot, so you find interesting ways to dissuade them," She said to Gajeel's still amused grin.

They ordered food and if he were honest, he hadn't prepared himself mentally or otherwise for the sight of her eating her ravioli. The way her lips curled softly around the pieces, tongue guiding the pockets of pasta off the fork.

Gajeel _was_ actually now hungry for food but it was difficult prying his attention away from her to even manage eating much of his own.

He discovered that for her size, she ate like a Dragon Slayer twice her height and despite the odd glass of wine, preferred not to drink. Though she was _very_ fond of her fizzy sodas. She was a strangely ordered eater, staring at the far right of her plate and working her way across. Gajeel found himself watching her closely.

She only stopped eating when he casually leaned forward and tucked her hair back, in exactly the same way she herself had done outside in the wind.

On the way back, his fingers brushed her cheek and she turned several shades of beet red in seconds. Her entire body burning up. She didn't know who she was kidding, it's not as if he wouldn't notice her reaction.

Levy felt like a moron. Maybe if she hadn't spent so long without intimacy she wouldn't be near fainting at the first signs of male interest.

Gajeel hastily ate only after she was finished her meal and lazily sipping her drink. The similarities to Natsu made her giggle. It must have been a Dragon Slayer thing. They seemed capable of simply _inhaling_ food.

They talked for well over an hour about all manner of trivial topics. Places they'd visited. Favorite foods. She asked him one thing no one else in the world knew and she found out Gajeel loved soft sheets... and he discovered she kept a bottle of chocolate syrup she drank straight from the container when she'd had a bad day.

Levy McGarden had a major sweet tooth.

He paid up and walked her outside where it was already getting dark. In all her adult life, this was without a doubt the nicest date she'd ever been on. She plainly told him as much.

"Wouldn't know about that, shrimp, it's the _only_ one I've ever been on," He remarked casually. The women he'd fallen in with hadn't really ever needed to be wined and dined.

"I'm your first ever date?" Her eyes were wide, her grin almost threatened to split her face in two.

"Women interested in me are generally only interested in one thing," He said coolly. In his youth he liked the thrill. And as sad as it was, it was as close to intimacy as he'd ever managed to get at the time.

"I guess I should be flattered then... that you took the time to take me out on an actual date," She batted her eyelashes at him and he swallowed thickly, scratching at the back of his head, awkwardly.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to Fairy Hills," Gajeel offered, turning quickly to hide the flush on his cheeks. His usual confidence faltering with the new knowledge that he was in uncharted territory.

A small hand reached out and took his as he moved off, pulling him back. There was a small tug that he didn't resist and she brought him down to her level, leaving a careful kiss against his lips. He stiffened for a second, stunned senseless as she pulled back. An easy smile on her face.

"You did something outside your comfort zone... I... figured maybe I'd follow your example?"

She let out a surprised yip when she found a pair of hands wrapped around her lower back, her body suddenly pressed against a warm chest, mouth devoured in a kiss she felt all the way to her toes. Digits curling in her winter boots. Her hands scrambled for purchase, grabbing for his shirt.

It was so good, she could have died. Right then and there.

Levy was humming happily as a smiling Gajeel pulled back, though his hands remained firmly in place, thumbs tracing soft, slow circles along her spine.

"I can see why most women never needed dinner," Levy said breathlessly.

 _"Most_ women?" Gajeel quirked an eyebrow at her.

She reached up and left another light kiss against his red, throbbing lips, his hands sliding to her sides. He dipped his head into her hair and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. He couldn't understand how he'd even been able to exist before that kiss. He felt like his universe had been swallowed.

"Well... _I_ think I might need a second date," She murmured.

"Yeah... and I think I might need a cold shower, gihi," Gajeel laughed.

* * *

Notes

Wooooot! Gajevy date!

Thank you so much for all your comments and support. And I wrote Juvia like I did because, well, it didn't make sense for her to have been a higher up in a guild like Phantom Lord, friends with a guy like Gajeel Redfox and not be just a _little_ terrifying. _;)_


	12. Chapter 11

She dreamt about that kiss, a blissfully welcome change to the nightmares where she found herself drowning in blood, tormented by the unheard screams and pleading stares of the dead. Although the new dreams that assaulted her were no less visceral, and resulted in just as little rest as the nightmares had. By the second night she was rudely, embarrassingly awakened by Erza banging on her door looking to know if she was okay, as she'd cried out in her sleep, left sweating and shaking in her bed for reasons involving a different Dragon Slayer; a pulsating ache between her legs, and vivid memories of his lips scoring wet trails on her skin.

Levy plucked the book she'd been reading from her nightstand and threw it across the room with a groan, throwing herself back onto her bed and burying her face in her pillow. Hot and bothered. Her love of erotic novels had not done her any favors in this instance.

Crawling from her bed, Levy cast herself under a stream of ice cold water in the shower. When she thought about him, she smiled. He was having a strong effect on her now. On her mood, her reactions. Even in the darkness of her own apartment she felt herself blush at the thought of that last dream, and she was _no_ blushing virgin.

When they'd kissed after dinner he'd held her carefully, not as if she were fragile, breakable, instead it was almost as if he was unsure of what he was doing. Uncertain. The reality of it struck her hard. Gajeel was _nervous._ Probably as nervous as she was. Stick an army in front of him and he rush it grinning, but the prospect of dating little Levy McGarden shook him up. The thought made her laugh.

Levy wasn't entirely certain if they could be considered a couple after one date, but if that kiss was anything to go by there would be more of them to come.

* * *

Gajeel honestly had no idea what to do next by the time he got home, finding a very expectant Lily waiting for him. He thought he knew about women like her. The type that liked to be taken out, the hand holding, blush at the mention of sex kinda woman. But she'd surprised him in so many ways. The directness, the boldness, it was all at odds with that bookworm persona of hers. He'd expected her to be shy. She really wasn't. She was simply _cautious._ His uncertainty had come from lack of experience in the forming of meaningful relationships. Hers he was learning was from the complete opposite. She told him a guy she went out with had tried spiking her drink. Said it as if it wasn't that uncommon a thing, either. How would you ever date again after that, let alone date _him?_

"So the date went well?" Lily asked following Gajeel between rooms as the man took off his coat and boots and fetched a beer from the fridge.

"What gives yah the idea I was on a date?" Gajeel asked casually, coolly, trying to hide the internal guffaw that Lily had somehow been able to work out what he'd been up to.

"Well other than the fact that you smell of restaurant quality pasta and wine, wandered in here with a rather terrifying grin, if I do say so myself, and have yet to notice that I accidentally _broke_ your guitar..."

"You _what?"_ Gajeel growled, turning and glancing at the busted up case he'd forgotten to store back in his room. The thing mangled beyond recognition. Looked like an elephant fell on it. _"You son of a..."_

"It's normally not left out here and it was _purely_ by accident..." Lily held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'll see it repaired or replaced, I promise..." The Exceed grinned deviously at his friend. "I _also_ promise not to add fuel to the Fairy Tail rumour mill."

Gajeel laughed at the hidden meaning beneath that innocuous comment.

"Blackmail, huh?" He shook his head. "You've been livin' with me too long, cat," He said between mouthfuls of cold beer. Lily was subtle but Gajeel was used to him at this stage. He'd keep his mouth closed if Gajeel dropped the subject of his guitar.

"So how was it?" Lily asked when it seemed like Gajeel was agreeable to the terms. Of course he was indicating the date.

 _"Weird..._ but in a pretty good way...ain't used to it," Gajeel admitted honestly. And that was the truth. Sitting down with someone and talking. Getting to know them. It was a bizarre social ritual when you broke it down.

"Gajeel Redfox exchanging words with a delightful woman over a civilised meal in a public setting.. well, you really must be in love with her," Lily teased him. Narrowing his eyes when Gajeel didn't immediately jump to rebuke that.

"You're... _serious?"_ The Exceed mumbled.

Gajeel didn't answer, instead he only grunted, turning back toward his room and setting aside a half drunk beer on the counter.

"See yah in the mornin', Lils," He called back to the shocked into utter silence Exceed with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Gajeel stripped and showered but couldn't manage to drift to sleep, instead he found himself laying in bed, lost in thought.

He was in love. It was stupid denying otherwise; he _knew_ that he was trying really hard with her and it had already crossed his mind that in his history with women, that wasn't exactly a common occurance. It was strange to recognise that he thought about her constantly. Entering a room, he looked for her first. Made himself aware of what she liked and disliked. Didn't like it when her attention wasn't on him. He even secretly enjoyed it when they fought. She was brilliant and fierce and kind, and so many other things he felt he just didn't deserve to know. He'd found something close to actual solace on her lips tonight. The only forgiveness he sought for all the things he'd ever done wrong was from her, and she gave it to him without asking for anything back.

"Well _shit..."_ He muttered quietly to himself in the darkness, the creeping realization terrifying him to his very bones. His father would have laughed his ass off at the thought that of all the reckless, ignorant little shits to ever walk the earth, Gajeel Redfox would be sitting on the edge of his bed twenty years later wondering how he could have developed feelings for a tiny woman from a guild he once hated. More bizarre were her feelings for him since he once put her and her whole team in a hospital ward.

Gajeel started laughing and quickly found he couldn't stop, no matter how much he tried. Stomach aching several minutes later he managed to heave a breath. He could hear Lily move around outside his room unsure of exactly what was going on. The Dragon Slayer wasn't necessarily a hysterical laughter kinda guy.

"How the fuck does that even happen?" He said out loud to no one in particular. Because falling for a woman you crucified to a tree under orders from your shitty ex boss was _very_ messed up, even by Gajeel's loose standards.

* * *

They were called to the guild late in the evening a few days later, no real notice and it was Mirajane in person who came to gather them, no lacrima communication. When they arrived, Erza, Juvia, Freed, the Dragon Slayers still in town, all cramming themselves into Makarov's tiny private office, they were greeted by a stranger waiting with the old man, a middle aged gentleman with familiar looking eyes glaring at them. The instant assumption they all had was that this was another council lacky.

"Please close the door behind you!" Makarov asked Laxus. Turning to Freed. "The runes, please," He asked quietly. In seconds the room was spelled against sound and magical spying. Sealed shut to the outside world.

The man in the chair seemed to shudder before his image melted away to leave a pale, sweaty looking Saggart sitting there instead. Mira handed her a glass of water. Her hands were shaking.

"Haven't used magic since I was a child...but needs must," She explained under scrutiny while she recovered from the exertion.

"What's said in this room is not repeated outside, am I understood?" Makarov said with an incredibly serious expression turning to Saggart. "The magic council representatives have seized all files for this case and they've issued a restriction on any local officials from speaking with witnesses or interfering with the investigation, hence Moira's disguise..."

 _"_ _Saggart_..." She growled out the correction, she had issues with people constantly using her first name and Makarov frowned, tired, he'd had a number of secret meetings with the former head of the investigation and the woman was as difficult as she was stubborn. Unfortunately, she was committed and as sharp as a whip as well. Currently she was Fairy Tail's only official ally.

"Yes, hence _Saggart's_ use of some _basic_ transformation magic.. Magic she could probably benefit from practicing with," Makarov frowned at her muttering the last part under his breath.

"I was never good with the eyes..." She narrowed her own back at him, a response to the small barb hurled her way.

"You called us all here, so cut the crap... what's going on?" Gajeel asked finally. A bad feeling in his gut.

"What's going on is that the council goons are coming to arrest you," Makarov said looking round. "But not just Gajeel, _all_ the Dragon Slayers. They haven't made up their minds entirely as to whether the creature is dead... what they _have_ decided is that Dragon Slayer magic is too volatile, too dangerous to be practiced. Unfortunately, you are a _part_ of that magic," The old man stared at them. "How do you tell a Dragon not to be a Dragon?"

"Master! Surely they can't do that!" Erza said, horrified by the careless indifference in a ruling like that. "They're wizards... not _beasts_ to be locked up."

"They can do what they please," Makarov snapped. Not necessarily angry as Erza's question but rather the sad truth of the answer he was forced to give. "But believe me, children, I have absolutely no intention of letting that happen. If I have to pull the council building down with my bare hands and smack some sense into each and every fool there, I will."

No one doubted that. Not for a second.

"How long have we?" Wendy's asked. Her voice quiet. Laxus, Gajeel, they'd all done things that feasibly should have earned them time behind bars, but Wendy was innocent. This was her seventeenth year and they'd only just celebrated her birthday a few months back. Her whole life she'd only ever tried to help, to heal. Whatever they could say about themselves, or Natsu for that matter, she didn't deserve to rot away the rest of her days in a prison cell.

"They aren't going to do a damn thing till their reinforcements arrive on Friday... they're idiots but they aren't quite _that_ stupid," Saggart breathed. Her entire life was about the pursuit of truth, seeing behind the lies people told, the ones they wore. It was why she despised her own limited magic like she did, why she chose to ignore it instead of train with it. Maybe she could have tried to learn something else, but she'd already made up her mind on what she wanted to be at that point.

"So what do we do?" Levy breathed.

"If it does come to it, we'll be splitting the Dragon Slayers up. The council needs individually signed and approved search warrants for each and every home they want to enter. We can put you up with some people outside of the guild. Separately. People that don't practice magic. Ones they won't know. Saggart has been helping to set that up, just in case, " Makarov gave her a slight nod.

"Why help us at all?" Laxus cut right to the burning question.

"Because I don't actually think this Dragon Slayer is dead... and you aren't going to be able to stop him or protect _anyone_ from inside the prison cell they'd leave you rotting in," She huffed, crossing her arms. The council would call it custody. But nothing short of a prison was going to contain them when they eventually wanted out. "Besides, trapped for five hundred years in ice, trapped by _magic,_ who knows what that's done to him. I don't necessarily share the council's concerns."

Gajeel wasn't one for running. And if Makarov put them into hiding, who knew how long it would be till they could return to their Iives. The council would probably watch their friends. Their usual haunts. That future made his heart race. Who knew how long it would be before he saw Levy again.

"But if we can catch this thing, us Dragon Slayers, we prove we're not only not a threat but if one of us does ever take a flying leap off the sanity dive board, they'll need the rest to bring them to heel?"

Saggart nodded to Laxus.

"Not entirely that simple, but not far off. Friday...gives you three days to find him and take him in or bring him down," She determined.

"Well, you're the one with the badge, where would you start?" Gajeel's question made her grin.

"It kept going back to that cave. Its not gone back since, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold significance..." She paused. "... Plenty of caves he could have chosen. We start there in the morning," She stood up and brushed herself off. Her body changing again though when she spoke it was still with her original, deeply feminine voice.

"You really kinda suck at that... it's a little painful to witness," Mira elbowed her softly, smiling as they left.

"Yes, yes, _fuck off._.." Saggart scowled but it lacked any real venom.

The runes protecting the room vanished with a wave of Freed's hand and Saggart disappeared, back in her disguise and vanishing out into the night. As far as any onlookers were concerned she could have been any number of possible clients. Makarov had the protection of Fiorian law to keep his clients identities confidential. Not even the magic council were going to interfere with that. Every guild three countries over would be up in arms.

Gajeel waited outside the doors of the hall as everyone left for the night only going back in when he noted Levy wasn't among them. He found her slouched at one of the corner tables, a large helping of red wine sitting in front of her as she fingered the foot of the glass. Moving it around in small, unsure circles.

"Thought yah didn't drink?" Gajeel said, taking a seat opposite her.

"A glass of wine occasionally can be pretty good for you, you know..." She dodged his obvious concern clumsily enough to actually worry Gajeel.

"What's wrong?" He growled out, forcing her to drag her eyes away from the surface of the glass and the liquid swirling there.

"Half of my friends might need to go into hiding and... I can't help feeling I had a _hand_ in that," She said miserably. The council were now using her notes against them. Trying to weave a reality where all the Dragon Slayers were a possible danger to society; ticking time bombs needing to be locked up before they went homicidal. She picked up the glass and went to take a sip but Gajeel took it from her and knocked the contents back coughing at the sharp taste.

"Sweet unmerciful _fuck..._ that's _nasty!"_ Gajeel wheezed. " _Fuck!"_ He started laughing and despite herself Levy found that she couldn't help but smile at the sight of him sticking out his tongue.

It wasn't lost on her that he was trying to cheer her up, uncharacteristically trying to drag some laughter out of her.

"I'd couldn't possibly taste any worse than what you drink?" She made herself smile. Unwilling to let a moment as rare as it was, die so carelessly.

"Yah think?"

Gajeel turned around to check and make sure they were alone before pulling out a small flask and passing it over to her. Cana was the only one that got away with drinking her own brew in the guild, and only because she frequently emptied the guild cellars. Fairy Tail didn't stock anything lethal enough to satisfy _her_ tastes.

Levy took it cautiously, a wary eye narrowing in Gajeel's direction. She was a small woman who didn't drink often if really at all and he was a Dragon Slayer three times her body weight. No doubt what was in the flask could floor her if she drank too much.

She sipped the smallest amount, her eyes scrunching shut at the burning of hard liquor on her tongue. When it hit her throat it made her cough.

"Sweet Mavis on a bread bun..." There were tears in her eyes as she laughed. "What the hell _was_ that?" She took a whiff of the contents and sneezed. " _Motherfucker_!"

Gajeel's eyes grew round in his head hearing her curse. He decided right at that moment that Levy should utilise bad language more... and that he was undoubtedly, without a doubt in love with her. How the hell could anyone be anything _but_ in love with her?

The idea of not seeing her again, come Friday made his heart race. A new kind of fear clawing at him. For all the reasons to leave his old life behind, the woman across from him was a reason to move forward. Past the guilt and the regrets. Some of the best new memories he had involved her. Filled with her laughter and her smile.

"Wonder what other colourful words yah got in that proper little vocabulary?" He tilted his head forward, hair falling over his face, his grin dangerous enough that it made her blush.

"A _few..."_ She said, averting her eyes, smiling a little sheepishly.

"Wonder what else you can say?" Even as rusty as he was these days when it came to flirting, Gajeel realised that that was exactly what was going on here. His voice dropping in pitch, eyes glassy, focused only on her face. Those lips that he suddenly almost desperately missed. Knowing time with her could be limited made him almost wild with the desire to touch her. Or maybe it was the wine warming his stomach, directing blood flow very much south.

Levy blushed the most delicious shade of red and stood up, fueled by a sip of whatever concoction Gajeel carried she came to stand beside him, leaned close to his ear and whispered.

" _Your tongue is purple_ ," She leaned back with a laugh, a look of triumph on her face at the gathering beads of sweat running down Gajeel's face at the proximity. "That _colourful_ enough for you?" She teased.

She stepped back but Gajeel caught her hand and guided her toward him, sliding a hand to her hip.

"You're really somethin'," He breathed, there was a look of astonishment on his face.

Where he touched, goosebumps erupted on her skin and when he gently pulled her into his lap she felt a shudder rock her to her very core warmth spreading through her cheeks as she was left sitting across his lap. He tilted her chin and leaned in, close enough for their noses to brush, a patiently waiting almost for permission.

Her fingers found their way to the strands of hair on his cheek and she pushed them aside leaning into Gajeel's waiting kiss. That close to him it accelerated from soft to crushing, all consuming, in moments. The bitter taste of her wine still on Gajeel's tongue mingling with the fire on her own. Before she knew it, her hands were in his hair and the smallest tug on his roots made him rumble against her.

She almost cried out in need when she felt him pull back away from her, breathless and as flushed looking as she felt, his hands tightly gripping her wrapping her in his arms, one hand pressed into her thigh, the other massaging greedy fingers into her rear. For all she enjoyed reading about it, words couldn't quite capture the feeling of losing all reason in someone's arms. Levy pierced him with a gaze filled with a lust that begged Gajeel to continue, a question as to why he stopped.

"I've had something to drink... you've had something to drink..." He smiled almost sweetly at her. "... just don't want you regrettin' anything tomorrow," He said, sober enough to consider the consequences. "Besides... guild hall, after all, gihi," He chuckled.

He felt her shift and climb out of his lap but she took his hand, turning a little to straddle him.

"I'm _not_ drunk and neither are you... and if the last two weeks have thought me anything it's that we might not _have_ a tomorrow," She left a light kiss on his cheek, wrapping her arms around him tightly. A tender embrace that quelled the raging fire a little for Gajeel to think that maybe she had a point, and maybe he should stop worrying about it.

When she finally pulled back a little she was smiling at him.

"You know what? You're _cute_ when you're confused," She mocked him, mimicking his previous comments about her being adorable when she was angry.

Gajeel growled low enough that the sound reverberated through her, making her still, but not in fear. She _wasn't_ afraid, no the race of her heart and spike in her blood was excitement. He wouldn't hurt her. There was a trust there that she couldn't put into words. Couldn't describe. Didn't even know they had until that moment.

In a flash she found herself on her back on the table, arms pinned, wine glass somewhere broken on the floor and Gajeel over her in a remarkably familiar position, pressed between her legs.

"Cute, huh?" He leaned in with a wolfishly devious grin. Letting his breath ghost over her neck.

Levy's breath hitched, eyes closing tight when she felt the barest of scrapes of fang along her throat. The present situation mirroring a half forgotten memories of one of her sleepless nights, where she'd imagined them together.

"Is this a dream?" Levy whispered out loud, unsure that this was actually happening. It seemed too farfetched to be real. After hours in an empty guild hall, pinned to a table. She was sure she'd read this exact scene in a book before.

Gajeel had begun slowly, lightly grinding against her and he stopped to pull back a little, mouth twisting ever so slightly to the side in a half grin.

"Think about me at night, do yah?" He asked, voice straining.

"Would you believe it if I said no?" Levy asked with a bashful laugh.

Gajeel released her wrists to drag his palms down her arms to her chest, thumbs lightly grazing her breasts as his fingers caressed her sides.

"I'd believe yah if you told me the blue sky was black and up was down," Gajeel breathed, voice quiet, sincere.

Levy opened her eyes to look at him, sitting up on her elbows as the reality of what he'd actually said sunk in and Gajeel grew clearly uncomfortable, backing away scratching at his head. It wasn't what he'd said, but the way he'd said it. He knew he was in love with her... and now so did she.

"Should probably get outta here before it gets too late," Gajeel almost choked the words out, brushing the moment off and straightening himself up, only now noticing his dishevelled appearance; wild hair even messier than usual. Levy had somehow managed to open half the buttons on his shirt. The woman still sprawled, pink cheeked across the table.

"Gajeel!?" She called his name like a plea but it seemed thats the moment had well and truly passed. Gajeel felt a stab in his chest at the brief flicker of painful rejection in her eyes. She was beyond confused now.

He stepped back with great difficulty.

"Stop! Please!" She said but he kept moving further away. "Don't run out on me!" There was an edge of frustration in her voice.

"I'm not runnin' anywhere, Shrimp," Gajeel bit out as Levy made it to the floor, legs well and truly still made of jelly.

"Then come back here and talk to me. It's okay to have feelings. You don't have to be embarrassed or ashamed about that."

Gajeel was honestly flabbergasted that she'd just come straight out and said it.

She took three wide steps and grabbed him by the coat.

"I really like you, you stupid oaf!" Levy wasn't quite sure if she was angry or just desperate about not losing grasp of whatever this was, but her grip was tight on him. If he stepped away she was adamant about being dragged with him. "This doesn't have to be some stupid _drama!"_

When he stopped moving she wrapped her arms around his waist only satisfied when she felt him return the gesture. They stood like that for an undetermined number of minutes, Levy enjoying the warmth encompassing her, Gajeel playing with her hair wondering plainly why the idea of telling her how he felt left him legitimately terrified.

"If you don't want to talk about it, how about coffee, then?"

"Pretty sure places will be closing up about now," Gajeel said, Levy looking up at him, cheeks pink again.

"Coffee... at your place is pretty good, too," Voice barely a squeak. Timid in comparison to their heated exchange. Voice ringing with the prospect of more than a hot drink.

"Lily... won't be back till the morning," He finally breathed when he found words, letting her take his hand and lead him out of the guild and onto the street. He wasn't sure she cared who saw them anymore.

* * *

Notes

So many comments and interest! I really can't thank people enough for the messages and the questions. Lol though, don't think I'm throwing you a straightforward story. There's a few twists still to come along the way.

Next chapter is pretty much start to finish raunchy, fluff filled smut. Just if you're not interested it can be skipped with very little impact on the story overall...though...there is some character stuff.

Next chapter should be coming directly with this one so if you're this far and aren't seeing it, give it a few minutes to turn up.


	13. Chapter 12

Coffee was forgotten about entirely by the time Gajeel made it to his front door, Levy already suspended off the ground by one hand as he fumbled for his keys, a task made difficult by the distracting feel of her small hands under his shirt. He was barely aware of the fact that she was giggling as he clumsily managed to get his key in the door moving them inside and put of view of the nosey neighbour down the hall, the one with his face not so covertly tipped out his front door.

Gajeel's knew the layout of his apartment blindfolded so when he collided with something foreign, propped up against the side of the couch, he stumbled over it. There was a gods awful crunch of wood and muttered curses and Gajeel found himself on his back still holding onto the woman in his arms with an almost death grip.

"You okay?" He muttered. Concern on his face as he shook his boot, comically trying to free it from the ruined hole he'd made in what looked like a brand new guitar. Lily was nothing if not a person of his word.

Levy was laughing, though, practically bursting at the seams, the pair of them literally falling through his front door like they did.

"Oh mavis..." She said, finally sitting up, Gajeel now frozen underneath her having realised their positions.

"Emmm...sorry about your guitar," Levy apologised and Gajeel snorted.

"Don't... I'm the one that stepped in it, right," He found himself suddenly not caring a lick about the instrument.

Levy moved her hands from his shoulders and down his chest. He felt himself squeeze her thighs through the dress she was wearing in response. She closed her eyes and sat back grinning goofily.

"Sorry...its kinda been a while," Levy explained, looking away, positive that Gajeel had already picked up on the awkwardness she felt at the current level of intimacy.

"Yeah, same here," Gajeel admitted. He felt every single twitch she made like a lightning strike of sensation. When she moved suddenly, possibly intending to get up, he grunted and she paused with slow realisation that she had equally as much effect on him and he had on her; a hard bulge pressed against her rear.

"You okay down there?" Levy asked with a laugh, still idly tracing the skin on his abdomen.

Gajeel shrugged rather casually for a man with a now painful erection and a woman straddling him.

"Could be better... but it could certainly be worse. View ain't bad," Levy batted half heartedly at his chest for the remark.

"And what would make the view better?" She asked him, eyebrow rising, daring a response.

Gajeel walked his fingers up her arm and caught the strap on her right shoulder, slipping it from its perch and freeing some more skin than she would normally have on show. He repeated the motion on her other arm and when the upper half of her dress slipped down over her bra she automatically brought her arms up to cover herself before realising that was kinda defying the whole point.

She slowly dropped them, a bra strap falling with her hands.

It was with the barest, lightest of touches that Gajeel traced his fingers down her chest, starting at her neck and working his way to her stomach where the top of a pair of black panties were just about visible over the pooling dress at her waist.

There were scars etched into her skin. Very thin, almost unnoticeable. Generally all that a magical healing spell or a potion would leave in their wake. Probably Wendy's early handiwork before her results were invisible even to his eyes. But they criscrossed her skin. Her abdomen had a long one, much deeper than the rest. Too precise to be anything but a surgical scar. He traced his finger along it. It was years old.

"Internal bleeding..." She mumbled dejectedly and Gajeel knew why.

"... one of mine," He said, voice sombre, and Levy looked away almost as if _she_ should be ashamed. That something like that were in some way _her_ fault. The thought that after so many years she would blame herself in any way for his crimes made Gajeel legitimately sick to his stomach.

There were a few in the guild with one or more remnants of Gajeel's bleak handiwork but he'd never felt the crushing weight of gut wrenching, breath stealing guilt quite like he did right then. The woman he was honestly in love with, carrying scars he'd given her. That one in particular a reminder of just how close to dying she'd come at his hands.

It had been a very, very long time since Gajeel had cried. The day he'd realised he was suddenly alone he'd wept, but he'd been a young child then, abandoned by his father. Not since. Metalicana had been often times harsh, never tolerated tears, but this was different, he knew his father would have despised the Gajeel that Phantom Lord had nurtured. The man who did this. The man who would have done far worse if he'd been asked. Metalicana may have raised a little bit of a rebel in Gajeel, but the Iron Dragon Slayer had allowed himself to become José Porla's _dog._

"I'm so sorry..." Gajeel only noticed the tears when she wiped them away snorting.

"You think you're the first Dragon Slayer to leave me with a scar?" She took his hand and brought it round her side and down her back, running his fingers over a patch of skin much harder and smoother than the rest. "Here... this one is from Natsu. I was eleven and the moron accidentally set fire to the back of my dress fighting with Gray. Or _this_ one..." She brought his hand down to her thigh, tracing the inside where a long thick scar ran up from her knee to her hip. "Laxus wasn't always as careful with his teleporting as he is now," Levy laughed running her fingers over the numerous marks on Gajeel's forearms curiously.

"We _both_ have scars."

He sighed, mood lifting a little. Though he couldn't understand how she could brush it all off so easily. Those were accidents, his decidedly not. Seeing her interest in his own marks he happily moved the center of the discussion from her.

"Got those in Phantom... only actual argument me and Juvia ever had," He huffed. " _Y'know,_ was pretty stupid back then, took me _far_ too long to realise yah can't cut water, not matter how big your blade is," It was actually a rather amusing memory. He'd a bad day, a worse week and Juvia was his target, only one willing to get close enough to become one.

Gajeel had decided to take his frustrations out in other ways after she'd floored him and Juvia had been advanced in rank. It was a lesson sorely learned.

"And this one?" She asked spotting a very faint mark on his chest.

"Fell off dad's back about five hundred feet up, Dragon claws don't make the most comfortable landings," He laughed.

"That honestly sounds amazing... _terrifying,_ but still... to be able to _fly_ like that," Her eyes were full of wonder at the thought.

"It... was pretty cool," Gajeel conceded, the hand on her thigh was still tracing that scar, up and back down under her skirt, brushing lightly over the edge of her underwear on its path. Adding a little more pressure made her hum, eyes closed and head tilted back.

The more she seemed to enjoy it, the bolder his hands became mapping larger areas under her dress, memorising every inch they touched. He slipped the skirt up and she stretched, allowing him to glide it off her before tossing it to the couch and leaning back to admire her.

She sighed.

"This is the part I always hated," She admitted to him mournfully. "That very feint look of disappointment. Short, flat chested and fat assed..."

She didn't have a second to continue or ponder the shock on Gajeel's face before she was airborn, moving and pinned under him, having been lifted and twisted beneath.

Gajeel's almost snarled in her ear grinding himself against her, just to be sure she could feel him. _Really_ feel him between her legs.

"Do I _seem_ like I find anythin' about yah _lacking?"_ He rumbled, hair covering his face as pressed himself hard against the heat at her core, making her breath hitch. She was incredible, and the idea that she thought so little of herself left him angry. So much self blame. Carrying even _his_ guilt and shame like it was her own.

She muttered something between light gasps and Gajeel kissed her, slow and firm, pulling back just enough to whisper to her.

"Say it again, and say it _louder!"_ He punctuated his sentence with a sharp, clothed thrust that took her breath away completely.

"NO!" Levy found herself yelling. Even through his jeans, her underwear, the friction was enough to leave her shaken. Needy and wanton.

She was breathing heavily when his weight lifted off her and she looked up through half lids to see him hold out a hand to help her up.

When he'd a firm grasp he pulled her to her feet, hoisting her into his arms, giving her rear an appreciative squeeze.

"Happen to like this ass quite a lot, matter of fact..." He squeezed again growling at her ear. "...bet you could crush men's _skulls_ between these," He said almost goofily.

That really shouldn't have worked for her, it shouldn't have, but Levy was left giggling like a schoolgirl. Unsure how Gajeel could pull off a compliment like that. Men usually told girls their eyes were like gem stones, or compared them to beautiful, delicate things. Gajeel had gone straight for a new tactic of 'your body is perfect to murder folk horribly with' still somehow making that a turn on. Maybe because instead of telling her she was pretty, he was telling her she was _strong._

Levy understood at that point that she may have been too far gone to stumble out of this wits intact. She was _hooked._ Every touch, every whispered word in her ear was an accelerator for a fire she hadn't known had been ignited. Things could be going to hell outside, it might be poised to go there soon, they could both be dead or separated tomorrow, but she didn't want this to end. Not ever. She was burning up.

His hair got everywhere, blocking her vision to the extent that she only realised they'd entered the bedroom when he set her down in the ruffled sheets, shrugging off his shirt and stepping out of his jeans and boots. She crawled backwards as he advanced, catching her by an ankle and leaving a lascivious kiss against her calf, moving slowly upward grinning ear to ear as her eyes widened, chest heaving.

At her thigh he dragged his tongue several inches along pale skin, satisfied as she quietly keened, eyes squeezing shut.

Lost in the sensation as he seemed to explore her body, Levy wasn't prepared to feel his mouth suddenly right there between her legs, hot breath, wicked tongue pressed against her pants and moving. She jolted, but his hands were there to catch her movements, holding her firm.

 _"Gajeel..."_ She hissed his name, drowning in need, filled with desire. He could smell her, the scent of her smothering him.

"Say it again," His words vibrated against her, making her squirm.

"Ga _jeel_..." Levy said with a laugh before the words dried up, morphing into a broken cry as he slipped the material aside and tentatively ran his tongue through pink folds in a slow circle, satisfied by the extent of arousal he found waiting for him. He worked his tongue through repeatedly, gliding away when he found the hands suddenly in his hair tightening, only to move back in with vigor when her heart rate and breathing seemed to find a stable rhythm. Dragon Slayer awareness let Gajeel keep her constantly on the edge of release.

"Sweet Mavis... no more... _teasing,"_ Levy stuttered, red and sweating. At this point he may as _well_ have been torturing her. She bucked her hips against him, frustrated, making Gajeel laugh.

"So impatient, shrimp," He chuckled and she slapped playfully at his head. When he looked at her she was pouting.

Gajeel moved over her and left a light kiss on her cheek, missing the devious, smug grin that formed on her face as she craned her head up till her lips were brushing his ear.

"Just wondering when you're going to actually _fuck_ me," Gajeel jolted, pulling back in shock at the language as Levy smirked. "... you were wondering what other words I could say," She was almost bashful, looking at him through a single half open eye, chewing at her lip.

She felt her underwear being slid down her thighs and opening her eyes she saw that he was already, suddenly very naked.

Levy was stunned. Without the bulky black clothes, the sneer, Gajeel looked so young, naked he seemed almost vulnerable looking, as vulnerable as she felt. There was a suddenly sheepish look on his face under her close scrutiny, he clearly wasn't someone who liked attention.

He settled on his knees, between hers scooting close, checking for signs of reluctance or hesitation. She reached for him almost impatiently, catching a hand around the back of his neck when he leaned forward, kissing him hard as he guided himself to her. Levy gasped against his lips, meeting his expression of intense focus with a bright smile and a roll of her hips as they connected, knocking all the air out of her with the sensation of being stretched further than she could remember ever being. It had been so long for her, and sex had never been something good enough for her to crave. Levy honestly hadn't missed it. Though she knew she'd miss _this._ The feeling of him moving inside her was almost too much. Every stroke made her cry out as she acclimatised to his rhythm, his size. He held onto her, calloused fingers pressed into flesh like he couldn't bear to let her go.

Gajeel lost himself the moment her heat engulfed him, drawing him in.

He was slow, careful the first few languid thrusts before Levy dug her heels into his back gripping his hair.

"I won't _break..."_ She muttered and Gajeel laughed against her, before reaching under her to grasp her shoulders for leverage, driving himself into her till sweat plastered the wall of black hair to his face and Levy was a slick panting mess underneath him dragging nails brutally across his skin. She cried out her end and he was grateful to have lased that long. The look on her face as she came, screaming his name, not in fear, not in anger or hate, but in absolute rapture, it was worth more than he could express.

Gajeel's felt his consciousness falter when he followed, he collapsed a little, almost crushing her, but managed to roll himself to the side. Eyes fixed to the ceiling, unable to wipe the smile off his face. Nameless, empty sex had _never_ been that good. He wrapped an arm around the limp body at his side and pulled a giggling Levy onto his chest.

"I feel like I should clean up... but I'm not sure I can walk," Levy muttered with an air of disbelief in her tone as Gajeel moved her hair off her face and to the side.

"Then my job I think is _done!"_ He looked down, grinning at her.

Levy had just enough energy to thump him on the chest.

"You're a jerk!" She groaned.

"But I'm _your_ jerk."


	14. Chapter 13

Gajeel woke up early the following morning to the smell of coffee in the kitchen and the feel of strawberry scented hair tickling his nose, his chest covered in a sea of blue messy waves. If he'd have died in his sleep during the early hours of the morning he'd have died a happy man. Last memories of her straddling him, eyes closed and mouth open in a silent scream of ecstasy. Sleep had been a broken concept at best during the night. Both of them waking up to find themselves needing the other, and both parties happy and eager to accommodate a pair of wandering hands. Intimacy still such a new and exciting prospect between them.

Levy taught him things about himself he never knew up to then. That he could be gentle when he wanted to be. That he enjoyed the play beforehand even more than the actual act. That soft teasing laughter. The tickling. Featherlight stroking of his skin as she explored him.

That the biggest turn on for him was when she took control. Asserted herself over him. Pushed him back against the bed laughing. She was very willing to take a dominant part in the bedroom, could be rough too when she wanted to be. Biting at him, scratching. Just enough pressure to drive him over. He responded in kind, making her come so hard she bit him to stop herself from screaming and Gajeel wouldn't have been shocked if someone told him she'd broken skin.

He just wouldn't have cared about it. If he could have had a normal life free of sin, a life where he'd been a good man, done good things, been free of the nightmares that plagued him, and the only cost would have been never having the chance to meet her, Gajeel wouldn't have accepted. She was worth every ounce of misery he'd endured. She was worth more than the guilt he carried with him for the things he'd done.

Blowing a stream of cold air across her brow he smiled when she batted carelessly at her face, slapping skin. The sight made him chortle. One of her eyes cracking open to glare at him unhappily.

"Gajeel, I took the liberty of making breakfast if you want to join us," Lily called from the living room and Gajeel watched Levy stiffen, mouth open, searching for the clock he didn't bother to even own. Probably why he was consistently late on jobs.

Technically, _Lily_ was Gajeel's alarm clock.

He groaned, realising Lily was pottering around the kitchen and he'd pretty much left a trail of clothing from there to his bedroom. Not necessarily his own, either. Not that Lily wouldn't have guessed. The Exceed had come in very late, or early depending on a person's perception, and while not perhaps as acute as a Dragon Slayer's, he would have had to have been stone deaf not to have heard what they were up to.

Gajeel stretched in the bed under her as the panic seemed to rise. They were starting their search this morning. A hunt for the Dragon Slayer or any remains that could prove he was dead. Levy wouldn't be going with Gajeel, though. Makarov had procured more than just the Dragon Slayer history from Bosco, he'd sourced other less valuable, though no less important tomes. Now that they knew who it was they were actually facing, it was possible to dig a little deeper. Though, Gajeel wasn't a fool, Levy he was fast determining wasn't one to sit on the sidelines, especially since she was internally shouldering some of the responsibility for the Council's idiocy.

He was fully expecting her to do something. How rash, how stupid? Those were the only questions.

"Hey... Shrimp?" Gotta get up, places to be," Gajeel whispered, trying to keep his voice out of Lily's earshot.

The warm body slouched over him groaned miserably.

"Don't make me go out there..." Levy whined, too tired, too content to want to move. Too unwilling to face the embarrassment of dealing with whoever else was out there with the Exceed.

Gajeel smirked moving the hair out of her face to see one sleepy eye still glaring up at him.

"Don't make me carry yah to the bathroom, because I will, we _both_ need a shower," Gajeel felt a little bit of a deviant at the blush that crept up her cheeks. He could see her brain jump straight to the prospect of a joint shower.

"Oh, there's a mind worth readin'" The Dragon Slayer checked the door from his room to the bathroom for any movement beyond and noted with delight that it was empty. Lily more than likely already washed up and ready for the day. The Exceed seemed to be able to get by on a barely an hours sleep a night when he had to.

Gajeel slipped out from underneath her and into the bathroom from the adjoining door to his room. Locking it from the living room with a sly grin. He brushed his teeth and laughed when an uncoordinated Levy wandered in behind him.

"Don't have any spare toothbrushes..." Gajeel started to say but the words died on his lips as Levy magically scripted her own and reached for the toothpaste with a smug, shit eating grin if ever Gajeel had seen one, and he knew those well. The Dragon Slayer passed a lot of reflective surfaces on a daily basis, after all.

As she stepped ahead of him into the shower, bending slightly for the soap, Gajeel felt that same surge of desire hit him again. The shower wasn't by any means overly large but they'd invested in something that could at least accommodate Lily in battle form. Gajeel let his fingers follow the water down her back, stepping in closer to wrap his arms around her, taking the soap from her fingers only to run it over her skin, lathering her up.

"Think... I might like starting the day this way," Levy said, eyes fluttering, squeaking with sudden laughter as her feet lost purchase in the shower and she slipped a little back into Gajeel who also lost his balance, clocking his head against a tile.

 _"Gajeel!"_ Levy almost shrieked with concern. "You okay?"

"I think showers probably ain't the best places to show you just how much I agreed with you," He chuckled, rubbing the tender spot on his skull and going back to his previous task, enjoying the feel of her under his hands.

They washed up, a somewhat disappointing endeavour as far as Gajeel was concerned. Sex in the shower was a fantasy of his, who knew it was so amusingly dangerous. He dressed and handed her one of his t-shirts. To which she stared at him.

"You don't really expect me to go out there dressed in nothing but one of your t-shirts with Lily and who knows who else, do you!?" Levy knew she sounded almost indignant. While she had no problem with people knowing that her and Gajeel were seeing each other, parading around in nothing but his shirt with Lily knowing precisely what they'd been up to, made her uncomfortable.

"Guarantee that my t-shirt is gonna be longer than your dress, Shrimp..." Gajeel looked at her with a somewhat dastardly smirk. "... besides, pretty sure Lils arrived smack in the middle of round two," He rumbled with amusement as Levy went a new shade of red.

Her mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping out of water before the decision was made and she pulled the shirt over her head, miserable and pouting furiously at Gajeel.

There was a sudden knock on the bathroom door and Lily's bemused voice rang out again on the other side.

"I made pancakes as well, " He called out and Gajeel frowned at the amusement in his voice.

"I know already, don't need Dragon slayer nose to _tell,_ Lily!"

"I'm fairly sure I was addressing Levy, Gajeel," The Exceed chuckled behind the door.

"I'm... I'm not really _dressed_ for breakfast," She found herself admitting to Gajeel's shaking head.

"You left some pyjamas here your last visit, they're laundered and folded in Gajeel's bottom drawer in the bedroom," Lily offered and Levy beamed, racing out of sight. Gajeel could hear her rummage away.

"You been in my room, cat?" He snarled through the door.

 _"No,_ your clean clothes _walk_ themselves back to your wardrobe," Was the sarcastic reply. Gajeel growled again, stomping out into the livingroom where Lily had a pot of coffee and a few stacks of pancakes waiting, bacon on the pan.

"You could at least put on _pants,_ Gajeel," Of course Gajeel had stormed into the living room stark naked. Lily more than used to it.

Someone coughed and Gajeel turned in slow motion to find Erza sitting on his couch... Levy's dress neatly folded up on her lap. A dead eyed stare that turned his blood to ice in his veins.

"Oh boy..." Levy's small squeak behind him announced her entrance into the single most awkward moment of Gajeel's life.

Erza Scarlet gave Jose a run for his money, and Gajeel valued his existence too much to risk a swift, messy end.

"I should go get dressed, then," Gajeel muttered, fleeing the scene.

"You have considerably eclectic taste in romantic partners, Levy," Erza breathed with a smile, happy her mere presence still frightened Gajeel. It was good incentive when it came down to treating Levy as she deserved.

"He told me he liked that I might be able to crush skulls between my thighs," She told Erza with a bemused laugh.

Erza looked around back to Lily.

"There was a hope once that you might rub off on him," She deadpanned to the Exceed.

"Yes, well, that was only ever a fools hope," Lily said though he was smiling. Gajeel looked to have entered into a relationship with an actual, decent, human being. There was hope of anything happening.

"Were you two out all night again?" Levy asked. Only because Erza looked genuinely tired and Lily no better. And as Levy knew it, Exceed's lived a very long time and could go a fair stretch without sleep. Then there was _Erza._ Levy wouldn't have been shocked if she'd an equip that helped her stay awake. The woman was otherwise inexhaustible.

"Most of it, yes. It was quiet," Erza didn't say that like it was a positive.

"Is that a bad thing?" Levy asked, looking confused, glancing back and forth between Lily and Erza. In Gajeel's room there was a sound of a hairdryer firing up that made Levy want to laugh. Of _course_ he'd have to use something to dry it off.

"It's undoubtedly a good thing that no one else has been hurt or killed...but..."Lily started to say, trailing off.

"... but a warrior trusts their instincts. The birds have left their nests. Wild deer have fled the forests. They know something we don't," She finished for him. Looking Levy square in the eye. "Juvia said injury seemed to make him change faster. If that's the case, if might not be a Dragon Slayer we save the town from," She said gravely.

"Might be a Dragon," Gajeel said from the bedroom door, hair dry and dressed. Levy fingered her still damp locks in a little envy. "Good thing Fairy Tail has four Dragon Slayer's, isn't it," Gajeel said trying to lighten the atmosphere of dread that had descended on the room.

"Didn't know you had a hair dryer," Levy whispered to him under her breath while Lily and Erza grew silent.

"Wet hair is a pain," Gajeel replied with a tone that bordered on irritation.

"Yes, it's also _my_ hair dryer, which you are welcome to use," Lily growled, glaring at Gajeel. They'd argued over this previously and Lily distinctly remembered telling Gajeel to buy his own.

"The food looks great, Lily, thank you," Levy said cutting off the burgeoning argument.

"Master requested we meet him at nine, there didn't seem much point in trying to get some sleep. Pantherlily suggested breakfast here and travelling together... it seemed a good idea considering Gajeel knows the location," Erza looked like she might have regretted the decision having wandered in with a sputtering and embarrassed Lily to find Levy's dress on the living room floor and noises best unheard emanating from Gajeel's bedroom, but the woman played it off well.

They ate in comfortable silence for the most part. It seemed that Lily had no qualms about befriending Erza considering his old friendship with her Edolas counterpart had disintegrated like it had. They got on quite well and it was clear Erza had come to value having someone to practice her swordplay with.

Grabbing his coat, Gajeel noted Levy had grown quiet. He was happy she wasn't going with them. Nothing about her magic or her skill, hers was probably far more useful than his own especially on a physically superior enemy, but she'd seen enough blood and horror and he certainly wasn't planning to add to it.

She caught him by the arm as he followed Lily out.

" _Don't die,"_ She breathed, worry in her eyes.

"Never the plan, Shrimp," Was the only answer he could honestly give her.

* * *

The group visiting the caves consisted of not only some of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail, but probably all of Fíore, and the more Levy reminded herself of that, the calmer she became. There wasn't anything that Fairy Tail couldn't overcome together.

"Ahh, _Levy,_ I've left those dusty Boscan books out for you in the private readings rooms with Mr Saggart," The elderly librarian had been a familiar face for many years to date. From the time Levy had been old enough to read she'd been there to help her reach the shelves.

"Thank you!" Levy said with genuine gratitude. The old woman clearly knew how important this was. Though Levy frowned, turning round. "Wait... _Mr_ Saggart?" She asked but Vera had already disappeared into the back.

Levy found Móira Saggart halfway through an old book by the time she entered the small reading room. The lieutenant was fixated on the page of a book, running her fingers over the faces immortalised on the pages.

"It's hard to believe they're the same person," She uttered dejectedly to Levy who took a seat beside her and leaned in.

The book contained images of Dragon Slayers in battle. Images of terrifying enemies with flaming eyes, screaming and clawing at their own flesh while those same Dragon Slayers executed them. Levy had no idea what this was meant to show. She thought she knew the histories pretty well.

"This isn't the Dragon war?" She asked and Saggart shook her head.

"Not the one you're imagining, no. It turns out that after the Dragon Civil war a lot of people weren't satisfied with the outcome... decided that a world with one Dragon was a world with too many. Seems like they burned and butchered their way through anyone that disagreed with that, Human or otherwise," Saggart explained.

"I had no idea," Levy said, voice drying up.

"Not a history it seems many wanted to remember," Saggart pointed to the beings with flaming black eyes. "They call them berserkers. These old time Dragon Slayers were apparently tricky to kill, and these were the human weapons against them."

Levy traced her finger over the picture like she had in curious wonder.

"How do you turn a human being into something like that?" She breathed nervously. They were twisted and deformed. No longer anything remotely human. No more a person than the Dragon's they were fighting.

Saggart closed the book, pulling another one to her. Opening a page up and tapping her finger on the face staring back up at them.

"Human sacrifice," She said coldly, and Levy gulped. "This here is our Dragon slayer," Saggart pointed out.

Levy found the difference startling. The man in the picture was attractive, smiling out from a sea of other jovial faces with his arm wrapped round the shoulders of a rather unimpressed red headed woman to his side.

"Didn't know they took photos so long ago," Levy found herself mumbling.

"It was a lost technology for a time after the wars," The police woman's face perked up at the chance to talk about something she loved.

"You know your history," Levy was suitably impressed.

"We're a small town, and us lowly police take our own photos..." Saggart stalled, brow creasing in concern. "Do you _feel_ that?" She asked, her palms flat against the surface of the desk. Levy mimicked her, feeling the thrum under her fingertips.

The pulsating became a stronger pounding. On the book shelves around them the tomes rattled, wood supports creaking.

"Earthquake?" Saggart asked, confused as to why Magnolia would be having one.

"Or a granite manipulating Dragon Slayer..." Levy rasped. The town wasn't somewhere prone to tremors. It was as odd now as it had been during the eclipse.

"Come with me! " Saggart grabbed Levy by the sleeve but the woman wasn't budging.

"No... I might be able to trap it," Levy's own bravery surprised her. And if she could trap Braca here, Gajeel would never have to fight him.

While she fumbled in her bag, Saggart trying to drag her away, there was a resounding scream outside in the main library. Terrified and gutteral. Levy's hands shook as she tore free from Saggart's frozen grip, making it to the door and cracking it open to see outside.

Direct in her line of sight she saw a woman collapsed and convulsing on the ground, blood staining her shirt as she beat out her death throws, seizuring so bad Levy heard her break her own bones against the marble floor. And crouched over her it was waiting, patiently waiting for the woman to die... and Levy could no longer see a future where they undid whatever caused this. There was no alternative to its death. Whatever man had once been there beneath that stone was gone, and in its place was only the monster the city had come to fear. Yellow, slit like pupils jolted up from the now dead woman at its feet, rage filling them as it howled... before the anger vanished and Levy closed the door with a quick whimper as it's eyes locked with hers. The corpse of the woman, still tangled in her shopping bags, forgotten. And she saw in them that once again it had a new target.

"We in trouble?" Saggart asked her.

 _"Yep..."_ Levy squeaked.

* * *

Next chapter should be very soon. I'm out of my native homeland on work related horror and there is very little connectivity out in the woods here.

I literally mean woods. I'd bore you with the story but needless, I'm still working on this and I'm so sorry about the delays and I thank everyone reviewing. You have no idea how much it means to me.


	15. Chapter 14

The cave had been pulled apart by the council; holes dug for bodies, the littered remains of the ones they found, taken away for burial or cremation. By the time Makarov and the others had stepped foot in the foul, bloody mud almost all traces of it were gone. Evidence of it's existence reduced to the claw marks engraved in long jagged lines in the stone, and the filth; a stench that they all knew would linger.

Freed had spent every hour since dawn the day previous, trying to get them access, circumventing the alerts and traps the council had left, just in case it came back, and by the time they arrived he was slouched asleep in the grass, propped up against stone with Laxus' coat shielding him from the wind while he slept fitfully. Mind plagued with real and imagined horrors. He was in _desperate_ need of new boots.

"You said this was ice shell?" Makarov was old, older than he wagered his children could have even guessed, but he'd never seen anything as horrifc as what waited for them inside. It must have been worse for his son and the other Dragon Slayers with their enhanced sense of smell, of sight. Wendy was the only one oddly enough who wasn't the colour of a bleached sheet. As a healer, gore and blood weren't the nauseating sights they were to others. Makarov had loathed to bring her, but out of all of them, she was most useful in this regard.

"Yeah, it's _not_ traditional water," Gray said, Juvia by his side her arm linked in his like a proclamation to the world. Gajeel almost snorted with laughter. Whatever made that lunatic happy.

"Juvia agrees," The water mage waved her hand but the dirty liquid didn't respond to her magic. It looked and smelled and _felt_ like water, but there was magic at its core.

"You ready, Kid?" Gajeel asked Wendy, pulling lightly on one of her pig tails to get her attention. The girl had zoned out. Lost in her own thoughts, unfazed by the smells.

"Ice shell from what Gray told me is pretty much designed to trap things... hopefully spirits, too," She knelt in the foul muck, clothes instantly stained with more than dirt, closing her eyes in focus.

"Who better to tell us about our rogue Dragon Slayer than the one who imprisoned him in ice," Makarov said somewhat smugly.

* * *

It struck the door with so much force that even though Levy and Saggart were both braced against the solid oak barrier, not only were they pushed back, they were sent barrelling off their feet completely. Saggart hit one of the book shelves while Levy was sent straight into the heavy table, she heard as much as felt the bones break from the impact as she slid across the surface knocking aside books and papers, her favourite yellow dress ruined with black ink.

She screamed, tears pricking her eyes uncontrollably at the pain. Her injured arm trapped under her as she landed between two chairs, body suddenly too heavy to move. It hurt too much to even concentrate. She vaguely noted the blood; splinters of the door were protruding from her thigh and her hands. They were bleeding profusely.

Across from her Saggart lay unmoving, the only indication she was alive was a wet, struggling breath and the shaky, sporadic rise and fall of her chest. Levy recognised a punctured lung when she heard it. The woman drowning in her own blood.

Numbing herself to the pain it caused, she reached out for her bag, knocked to the floor with her, and worked her fingers in, pulling out her light pen, hiding it clumsily in the fingers of her hand, the one she normally didn't write with.

She started drawing runes. The pain made it difficult to focus as the world zoned in and out around her; wavering darkness encroaching on her as she fought against unconsciousness. Before Gajeel had taken her advice and decided to try and capture the creature, while he was still hell bent on a showdown he likely wouldn't have survived, she'd put together a spell to trap it, but her mind was too foggy with pain and shock was already creeping it's way in. She could only hope she remembered enough of it.

When she heard the noise, the soft scraping of stone on marble, her hand legitimately started to shake. She made sure she could write with both her left and right but her left was never as neat, never as fluid. Now though, her runes were barely recognisable. Adrenaline made her already wavering lines, jagged as her entire body trembled.

From behind the table she watched as it came to stand over Saggart and crouch down to examine her. When it tilted her head to the side with a diseased looking claw Levy clearly saw the blood on the woman's lips.

" _Get away from her,"_ Levy wheezed, angry, not just at it but at herself. So many things she could have done differently. So many mistakes she wished she could take back. If she'd have left when Saggart had suggested. If she hadn't have convinced Makarov to try and save him.

There was a surge of regret at those words of hers as the Dragon Slayer actually headed them, standing up and away from the police woman, making his way over to her. One hand was all he used to lift the edge of the table and hurl it away from them both, blocking the doorway and unshielding Levy in one effortless maneuver. She felt terror unlike anything she'd ever experienced force all the air and words from her lungs. Paralysing her.

Levy comforted herself with the knowledge that the thing had been _seen_ and they weren't far from the guild; people _would_ come. She just needed to buy some time. But it was a bitter pill to swallow knowing that it was more than likely going to be far too late to save her. The hope of rescue was a fools hope.

With what strength she had she activated what runes she'd managed to write down drawings a breath when a rune wall rose between them...then wailing brokenly when with a flick of its now _enormous_ wings the cage she'd made vanished in a wisp. Levy was too weak, too unfocused by the pain to have put together the intended containment spell. What she _had_ cobbled together was no where _near_ strong enough to hold it.

It wasn't careful when it reached down and locked a clawed fist tightly around her calf, pulling her so hard she was lifted from the ground and thrown clear across the room where she skidded to a halt in some toppled books near Saggart. The pain was almost too much for her, she screamed, but when her eyes fell on the injury in her leg she found she couldn't look away. Not even at the Dragon Slayer that she knew would be advancing. She watched the open wound with almost morbid fascination, momentarily incapable of understanding that this was her own limb she was looking at. She saw arteries pulse. Exposed to the world.

It's claws had torn her open and under the limb there was a pool of blood forming. Her blood. _More_ blood.

The calf muscle was practically shredded and she found she couldn't even so much as twitch her toes.

Everything hurt and as the adrenaline faded and cold crept into her very bones, Levy started shaking. As much in fear as trauma. She wasn't able to do more than twist her crying face away from it as it crouched down over her and wrapped a hand around her throat. Glaring at her with its one solitary yellow eye, even the presence of another socket in his head had scabbed over with stone.

"Braca..." A small voice whimpered and it turned abruptly, withdrawing from Levy immediately in the direction of the voice.

Saggart had rolled onto her side, blood still trickling from her lips but gone was the tight bun on her head and the tired pallor, instead she looked younger, hair the colour of embers and with darker skin. She wore the face of a woman that Levy recognised from the book. The woman he'd his arm wrapped around in the image.

It scurried over to her, wild, a noise like a cry bleeding from it. A piercing wail that made Levy almost pity it. So much _pain,_ she could barely stand to listen.

Saggart's torso was lifted from the floor carelessly and from the pitched scream that tore passed her lips Levy knew the woman had probably suffered yet another injury as a result of the rough handling.

A word broke passed its lips but Levy couldn't understand it. Braca, it seemed in his transformation, was losing the ability to even form intelligible sounds. His lips, his tongue, they were no longer made of maliable flesh.

She couldn't move, barely able to stretch out her hand, fingers brushing the tip of the woman's desperate, outstretched digits. And as she watched, eyes locked with Moira Saggart's unwavering stare, it did something that took Levy wholly aback.

The Dragon Slayer bit her, right on the shoulder. Hard and violently enough that what looked like a pint of blood raced to the floor under his lips in seconds. Considering the other wounds, an injury like that probably shouldn't have even registered through the shock, but the change was instant.

Despite obvious pain she was already in, Saggart had been mostly quiet, but the minute it bit her she started screaming. Bloody hands clawing at its back so violently her nails broke away, feet kicking wildly in the air as the creature took hold, latching on. It seemed to continue for an age. That haunting sound.

And then there was absolute stillness. Levy heard nothing but the panicked thumping of her own heart hammering against her bruised and broken ribs, as Saggart was dropped like a doll. Her open and lifeless stare locking with Levy's, who felt like those eyes were almost pulling her with the woman into death. A silent judgement in her empty gaze.

Whatever it's reasoning, it wasn't happy that Moira Saggart was dead. It roared and screamed and thrashed, beating the ground and _then_ her body in frustration. Poundiing rock-like fists into the corpse with sick wet beats. Levy felt something in her break at the sight of what it left after the tantrum. Gajeel was right from the beginning and she'd been wrong. The choice had been hard but not all decisions were easy.

Levy's tears dried up as she resolved herself to her fate. Resigned to reap what she felt she'd sown.

"I hope you remember this," The hate she felt was foreign and poisonous. The only thing stronger than the pain.

Closing her eyes she felt herself pulled from the wall behind her, biting into her trembling lip to stop herself crying out when she felt the breath on her skin, the trickling drops of warm blood that fell onto her and rolled rivulets down under the edges of her dress.

There was only a second where his teeth punctured the skin before a howling, blood soaked Mira ripped him away from her, tearing one of his wings clean off in the process. An anger unlike anything Levy could say to have witnessed on the bloodied woman's face. It was just a moment then as it hit her...but that second felt like an eternity of agony to Levy. It was like having fire injected straight into her veins, pouring through her like a venom. Levy was no stranger to injury and pain but she found she screamed until she tasted blood. A long piercing, gut wrenching shriek that made her sound like some wounded animal. When the sensation began fading, she was left panting, now aware that Míra was staring at her. Brow crinkled in worry and grief and rage.

The Dragon Slayer didn't seem to feel the pain of his missing wing as it lunged at it's new adversary. Mira catching his tackle to her midsection like you would a child and with her own wings spread, propelling them both out of the library, straight through the ornate ceiling; stone and wood and plaster cascading down around Levy making her eyes burn as she coughed, fighting for dust free air.

Levy felt the pain of her other wounds lessons in the wake of the bite. Broken bones, even the hideous mauling to her leg couldn't compare to it. Still locked on the sight of Moira's body she felt someone take her hand and she looked up to see Lisanna's short white hair. It was stuck to her head, plastered to her face with drying blood. It was the last thing Levy saw before blackness.

* * *

As Wendy's spell took effect they watched the figure of a girl rise from the ripples in the rock pool. It was difficult to tell her exact age, her insubstantial form gave her the luxury of ambiguity in that matter, but the look in her eyes, the way she held herself, she seemed young enough. Too young to be at the center of all of this.

The girl glanced down to the water under her and blinked for a few moments, trying to comprehend. To remember.

Memories seemed to hit her all at once and she cried out.

"My father!? Where's my father?" She shook her head, eyes tearing up with ethereal sorrow. "You can't release him! They're going to kill him!"

"Calm down, child who's going to kill him?" Makarov asked softly. Everyone there was currently still torn between watching the girl or Wendy. The young Dragon Slayer was literally glowing in the dark cavern. They could feel the waves of immense power from her.

"The other Dragon Slayers..." The phantom buried her face in her hands. "It wasn't his fault. He didn't know mom was there," The girl looked to Makarov, pleading with him.

"You used _ice shell_ to protect him?" Gray sputtered. The spell wasn't meant to be used in that way. It wasn't that kind of magic. "Well _that_ was stupid," He snorted before falling silent at Makarov's furious glare.

"Do you have a name?" The old master turned back to the specter. Eyes kind.

"My name is Vita Hal Valdis," She said quietly. "Am I... dead?" She seemed to panic. "Actually...no...don't answer that."

Makarov was aware that Wendy wouldn't be able to maintain this line of communication for long so he needed to be quick.

"Vita..." She turned to him at the soft whisper of her name. "...we need your help. We want to try and help your father, too but we need to understand what's happening to him."

Her ghost laughed at him.

"You _can't_ help him. _No one_ can help him," Vita seemed to grow frantic, clutching at her head. "...Dragon Slayers aren't Dragons...it wasn't meant for us..." Her voice was fading in and out, missing words here and there. "... drove them _crazy_ and when one died it killed the other. It... _changed_ dad, made him angry all the time... and he _hated_ it, " She wheezed, her form was growing fainter.

"How?" Gajeel found himself blurting out the question. He was one of the few that knew what the girl was talking about. She was talking about Dragon mating. Or in this case, what was fated to happen to the Dragon Slayers that attempted it.

"I don't know, I'm sorry," She seemed genuine about that. To Gajeel's eyes there was something like pity in her own.

"Vita, your father has _killed_ people. Women. We believe he's looking for your mother. Is that why you trapped him?"

The girl looked impossibly angry.

"They said _death_ was the only way to help ... but they weren't interested in _trying... happy_ to have an excuse to get rid of him... " She said, body and voice fading out as Wendy started shaking, a gutteral growl bubbling up as she struggled to keep the spell going.

"Vita... we think your ice shell may have done something to him," Makarov kept his voice soft. The spirit of this girl had suffered dreadfully. He refused to add to her torment by telling her exactly the kind of monster he'd become. The horror she herself had helped cultivate.

"I _couldn't_ let them kill him.." Her eyes bored into Makarov's so filled with remorse and regret. Too much for someone so young. "I couldn't lose him, _too."_

She looked like she was about to say something else, about to add to that but her form vanished like mist, Wendy crying out as the spell died, collapsing.

"I'm sorry... that's all I could summon," Wendy was tired. Drained.

The girl had given voice to the dead. There were few mages that would even able to understand how, none that would be able to do the same.

"LAXUS!"

Freed stumbled in, still draped in Laxus's coat, clutching the Dragon Slayers lacrima in his white fist, the one Laxus kept for the guild in his coat pocket.

"It's attacked again. In the town square. Mira... _Mira..._ She was _inconsolable,_ "

Gajeel's stomach bottomed out.

* * *

Grief was a strange sickness all on it own. Spreading like an unstoppable, incurable plague. Rage and guilt and regret among the symptoms.

The streets had almost immediately emptied, people racing and screaming in every direction away from the bloodbath.

It had dropped out of the sky, no warning, no sudden announcement of the danger the afternoon shoppers had faced. The firmament was clear and bright and Míra had been out with her sister and Cana shopping when all hell had broken loose.

The situation was a difficult thing to comprehend for the take over mage. Her hands had blood on them. Innocent blood.

Gajeel almost found himself choking on the stench of terror in Magnolia. On the ground, as him and Lily flew back to the guild he could see people still running, even though signs of the battle were long over.

The guild doors rattled with the brutal way he kicked them open, the others arriving behind him, Laxus already there waiting for them. Pale, sitting with his head in his hands.

The hall was otherwise empty, but for Mira standing behind the bar, pouring herself a shot of something that made Gajeel's nose sting. She looked like she'd already had a couple. Her normally clean hair was slick with mud and blood, her clothing tattered and her skin was cut up.

Gajeel could smell Levy on her.

"Mira? What's happened? Where's Master? "

Erza was the first one to speak. Gajeel's tongue felt swollen in his head.

"Gramps is in the back," Laxus said, he'd brought Makarov back himself, they were the first in the guild to get the news, where the guild master had shrunk in on himself. He was often tumultuous at best but Laxus had seen something other than sorrow in his grandfathers face as he retreated to his office. Something that reminded him of his father. Something he'd never seen before.

"... just out shopping," Mira said, her hands and voice were wavering. Her eyes not too far off unfocused. The woman didn't normally drink, but she was well on her way to drunk right now. She picked up the bottle again but Erza snatched it from her hands. A pleading look in her eyes.

 _"What... happened?"_ She bit out.

"It _killed_ them," Tears began washing trails down Mira's dirty face face as she said it. Streaks of blood and mud running to her chin and onto her already stained clothes.

"Levy..." Gajeel breathed the word, the name, like it were a physical knife he was pulling out of his chest. It caused him pain to even speak it. The idea that he'd touched something so bright, so wonderful beyond words and then had it snatched from him was too terrible to consider.

But Mira shook her head.

"No not yet. _.. but she's hurt really bad, "_ Mira cried.

Erza seemed to break. She'd passed Lisanna and Cana on the way to the guild lingering, bloodied out on the street.

 _"Mira?"_

Mira set Saggart's badge on the countertop. The leather case was soaked through with blood.

The reality of what she was trying to say without words sunk in and left them all speechless.

There had been no blaze of glory. It had been pointless and stupid, _unexpected._ The woman had deserved better. Those dead before their time generally did.

"You said Levy was hurt?" Gajeel could feel the grief in the air. The palpable taste of anger and pain and even asking the question felt crass. Disrespectful. He caught Juvia's watery eyes swivel to him but she said nothing. They would grieve after, but those living had to come first. As much as she hated the seeming callousness in the question, she understood it.

"It chased another woman from the street into the library...killed her, the lieutenant was there with Levy..." Mira looked away. "... Levy's..." Mira straightened herself up and tried to harden herself. She knew she didn't have the luxury of falling apart just yet. There were friends and family to avenge, monsters to slay. She looked each and every one of them in the eye. "... Levy might not live. Wendy's been sent to help but she's already weak and Porlyusica is doing everything she can to keep her alive."

"Where is she?" Gajeel snarled and Mira fixed him with an unsympathetic look.

"Unless you've some strong healing magic you haven't told us about, you're only going to get in the way," Míra growled back.

It was Erza who balked, wide eyed and shocked that such a callous thing could come tumbling passed Mirajane's lips.

"How can you say something like that?"

"Because we're already down Wendy and we need all the Dragon Slayers we can _get_ if we're gonna hunt this thing down," Míra said with a calculating glare.

"If you think that I'll be flying Gajeel _anywhere_ before he has the chance to even _visit_ her, you're _sorely_ mistaken," Lily seldom lost his temper but he was clearly angry in this instance. Lips curling back on his fangs as he spoke. Tone a remnant of darker times. Maybe it was misplaced. Maybe it was justified. Either way, it seemed to be a shared sentiment in the room. No one was amused.

"It won't be airborne...that gives us a better chance of catching it," Mira said, she'd let it get away when she could have torn its throat out. Any further deaths were on her.

Mira's grin as she pulled a pair of severed stone wings from behind the bar and placed them on the countertop honestly frightened Gajeel. This creature's madness seemed to be infecting everything it touched. The woman looked to have lost herself to it.

He'd heard that when she thought her sister had died she'd retreated from the world almost, become a shell of the mage she once was. Demon they'd called her. The _devil._ To Gajeel it looked like that was the case once more. He could see her skin rippling with magic. So on edge it looked like she was ready to lose it at a moment's notice. Fury drenched alcohol etched on her face.

"That's _enough,_ Míra!" Laxus shouted, hitting the table with his fist so hard the legs quite literally gave out beneath it. The bench ruined, he stood.

"Levy is at Porlyusica's house, just outside of town. I'll take you," He said to Gajeel, turning to fix Míra with an almost disappointed frown.

 _"Laxus!"_ Her voice was almost a plea.

"It's not going to get anywhere fast with those kinds of injuries... Gajeel?" He gestured the mage to follow him. There was an almost silent communication between the two and Gajeel realised that shower or not, Laxus could probably still smell her on him. On his clothes. His skin. This was what compassion felt like. This was _empathy._

The arguing and bickering continued behind them as Míra tried following but was caught by an equally furious Erza, mobbed by the others for details.

Laxus teleported them from outside the guild, a disorientating experience for Gajeel he could admit, but it turned a trip that would have taken half an hour even by air into one that lasted mere moments.

They both smelled blood the second they arrived. It saturated the clearing where her cottage rested.

Gajeel rushed forward and burst open the door to the small house, following his nose. The smell of blood and his shampoo leading him into the back where he found not one but two bodies in the beds there. Wendy lying unconscious in one while a heavily bandaged Levy lay in the other. The gauze visible on her leg and torso, on her neck and chest, it was _all_ stained red.

Wendy was pale and sweating. Unresponsive.

"Just magical drain. She'll be fine with a little rest," A voice appeared from nowhere. A feat to sneak up on a Dragon slayer.

The old woman, the healer who tended to the majority of Fairy Tail's medical needs was a tall woman with an permanent expression that could curdle fresh milk. Gajeel had the fortune of only meeting her a handful of times since joining. The benefit of a Dragon Slayers resilience. The doctors at the hospital that had treated him spoke about her like she was a nightmare.

"Her problems are more than those physical wounds. In any other situation they could be stitched and healed within a day. As it stands though, it's not the wounds killing her," Porlyusica approached the bed and pulled back the gauze on her neck carefully, gingerly trying not to aggravate the wound.

"I can't say it's venom. It isn't, though it seems to behave like it is. It's magical in nature and it has flooded her system. She's currently suffering an allergic reaction to it. Similar to you, as a matter of fact," She explained.

"I got over it, though," Gajeel said, hopefully.

"Yes, you Dragon Slayers are a fortunate bunch," She looked to. Laxus with a suspicious eye. "It's good that you both came, saves me the trouble of sending for you," Her lips turned upward but Gajeel couldn't actually tell if it was a smile or a grimace.

"Whatever yah need, just ask."

At that moment he knew he would be willing to just about do anything for the woman in that bed. Anything to keep her alive.

"For the moment, I'd ask that you stay here _and do nothing_ , I may need more from you shortly and I don't particularly like waiting around," She turned from him and pulled a book from the bookshelf. Gajeel caught a look at the pages as she briefly flicked through it and they were all blank. No name or title on the cover.

"You can wait with her. Laxus, boy, you come with _me,"_ Laxus moved from the doorway he'd been quietly waiting in and followed the old healer, casting a concerned look Levy's way as he passed.

Gajeel pulled a stool to her bedside and sat down. With a cursory glance toward Porlyusica's office door to make sure he was alone, he reached across her still body and pulled the gauze back from her neck. It was a vicious looking wound. The skin was torn and blackening. It had _bitten_ her and Gajeel was done considering it a man. It was a _beast._

The parts of her he could see were purple and swollen. Her leg looked to be the worst of the soft tissue damage. Her arm was in a cast.

He brushed her fingertips with his and he could feel what the old healer had been talking about. Magic. Dragon magic flowing in her veins like a poison. Unwanted and invasive. He could feel her resisting it.

"There's my little fighter," He whispered, a pang of misery at the fact that she wasn't conscious to fire back at him for calling her small. "I'm sorry I wasn't there... don't think I'll ever be done apologising to yah...but I'll be here when you wake up. I promise that I'll be here. Y'know though, this stool isn't all that comfortable, so don't leave me waiting long."

He brushed her hair aside in a tender gesture and swore she leaned into his touch. Was certain he could hear her heartbeat quicken, colour flood back into her cheeks. He could _feel_ the magic killing her withdraw from his own.

Dragon's were often solitary creatures, competing for territory and resources, it stood to reason that their magic would also be at odds. Had the bed been bigger he'd have probably climbed into it with her, cradled her just to test that theory. As it was, he rested his hand against her cheek, held her hand.

Gajeel opened himself, his magic, letting his skin turn to iron and imagined it like a river washing though her, cleansing the infection. It followed a path like a stream along his skin, moving though her where it contacted. It was instinctual. The Dragon magic flowing where it was needed.

There was a light and he opened his eyes, unsure why or when he'd closed them and found Wendy laying on her side, hand outstretched from the bed. Tired and drawn out but working her magic regardless. As he negated the infection, she was finally able to close the wounds, make those crucial repairs to her body that the Dragon Magic had been preventing. Gajeel heard an audible crack as her arm reset. The would on her neck closed over but left a scar. A horrible, vulgar looking thing that not even Wendy's skills could remove.

When Levy opened her eyes they were glassy, their final image still burned into them, unseeingly, she bolted straight up from the bed and _screamed._


	16. Chapter 15

Gajeel had no idea how much seeing her cry would affect him. She wailed in his arms while Wendy huffed in the bed, gasping for breath, almost too drained to move, her skin a sickly pale colour, but her heartbeat was strong.

Gajeel had no experience in offering comfort, not to the extent that Levy required. She _shook_ in his arms. Screaming and crying, fists pulling at his shirt. Teeth clenched. Still in pain, he could _tell,_ but how much of it was physical and how much emotional he couldn't be sure. His own powerlessness was equally as distressing to say the least. Gajeel wanted to be able to _do_ something.

 _"Levy,"_ His concerned voice seemed to bring her back around and she sagged a little against him, drawing deep, uneven breaths.

"I'm... not dead?"

"I doubt you'd be hurtin' as much if you were," Gajeel said with a smirk and held her tighter as she started to laugh at that. But the laughter was brief and within a few moments she was wracked with hiccups and tortured sobs.

"We... Why does it keep turning up?" She bemoaned pitifully "She saved my life," Levy breathed.

"Mira?"

"No... _Saggart,_ she drew it away. I'd be dead..." She couldn't finish her sentence. The memory of the woman's dying wails were still rattling around Levy's mind. The noise her skull had made when Braca crushed it. The stickingly _wet_ crack. Like a broken eggshell. The fact that the woman's legs still seemed to kick after she died. Levy's stomach rolled and she pulled back from Gajeel, getting sick over the opposite side of the bed.

Porlyusica appeared like a demon from her office only to slap Gajeel over the back of the head with a sneer.

"Did I not tell you to do _nothing,_ or was I _imagining_ that?" She growled, though beneath that he could see a flickering of relief.

Quietly, almost under his breath, Gajeel whispered. "I don't even know _what_ I fuckin' did."

The answer far from pleased the old woman who raised a finger at him threateningly. Holding it an inch from his nose. She looked like she was about to say something but the words found themselves swallowed beneath a silent glare.

Laxus looked at them with concern. He was happy Levy appeared to be okay, but worry still gnawed at him regarding how that happened to come about.

"Stay here with them," He said to Gajeel. "I'm gonna go back and try talk Míra down."

Porlyusica turned away from Levy to check on her other patient, Wendy, pausing to clean up the mess left on the floor. Most of Levy's serious wounds had vanished, but as much of a miracle as it was, it was unlikely she'd be able to walk out under her own power. Her leg had been practically _rebuilt._ She would need to learn to use it again. It would be weak for some time.

"I'm not goin' anywhere," Gajeel said. He didn't care how he looked. Didn't care who saw at the minute. Hell, Laxus _already_ knew. Gajeel was aware that he was a selfish bastard, still, because to him, Levy was more important than the others. They could go off hunting. He wouldn't leave her side again.

"Stupid girl, overdoing it..." Seeing that Levy wasn't in any immediate danger, Porlyusica fussed over Wendy. Setting a blanket over her shoulders, concerned that the Dragon Slayer had pushed herself too much.

Gajeel looked down at the scar on Levy's neck and almost bit his tongue in anger at the way she flinched when he grazed it with his thumb. The pink, freshly knitted flesh was still sensitive. He could already tell she was going to be left with this mark as long as she lived. It had festered too much to have been cleanly healed.

One more scar from a Dragon Slayer.

"They're going to hunt him... _it..._ down, aren't they?" Even Levy was beyond thinking of him as a person anymore. Whatever of the man had survived the ice, was long gone now.

"You bet they are," Gajeel left a kiss against the crown of her head.

"You not going with them?"

"Not my priority," Gajeel smiled down at her.

"That's good. I was... I was planning on trying to trap it myself," She admitted, though seeing how easily it had broken her magic made that statement sound so blatantly stupid when said out loud. In her own mind she'd convinced herself that if Gajeel was intent on facing it by himself, she'd been planning on stopping him by getting there first.

Gajeel didn't seem surprised by the revelation.

"Why I backed off, knew you'd do something dumb if I kept pressing it...also helped that Juvia turned up alive and well and her _ice princess_ is a lunatic," Gajeel chuckled, growing serious as he took in the placement of the bite that was growing more and more noticeable the longer he looked. Like he couldn't see anything g else.

If you wanted to kill someone, there were better places to sink your fangs into.

"What happened?"

"It burst into the library chasing someone down. We tried to hide... but it saw us. Broke down the door. She was already _dead_ when it did that to her," Levy said, confused. "It bit her and she started screaming _so bad_... but it just wouldn't let go."

Gajeel knew precious little about trauma, but even a blind man knew water when he fell off a boat.

It made sense, they'd said that the women had died before it butchered them. Chances are that it bit them and destroyed the bodies in anger after they died.

The truth whispered to him and he knew it as soon as he uttered it in his mind.

"He was tryin' to reconnect with his mate," Gajeel said, every bit as serious as he sounded. Hallucinating and dying, losing his humanity, the Dragon in Braca sought out the missing part of that bond that had been severed. Driven madder and madder with every failure. Undoubtedly, there were nicer ways to share magic, but the baser part of him had clearly gone for the quickest; the Dragon in him, the most brutal.

Gajeel felt panic rising, he may have saved her life but at what cost?

"You feel any different?" He asked her tentatively. Unsure how he'd take her response if it was anything other than typical.

"I feel like I've been bulldozed by a Vulcan...and I may _never_ sleep again... but I'm alive, I guess," Levy wasn't entirely sure why that concept didn't thrill her. Didn't make her happy. As it was she felt crippled by guilt. A voice in her head telling her all about how this was her fault.

Tears fell until it felt like all the moisture in her body was gone. Her blood was sand in her veins. Out of all that had happened, all that she'd already witnessed, the time she wanted to be able to grieve, to mourn, she found herself now numb. Empty as a corpse.

"I can get that," Gajeel brushed his fingers over her hands. "You should probably try and sleep.."

 _"I don't want to,"_ She interrupted him. There was fear in her eyes. Her own terror at the prospect of dreams made for a bitter pill. She'd only just started to sleep soundly again.

"Guess I can understand that, too," He cupped her face. "How about food?"

"I don't think I can eat right now, either," She whispered, afraid he'd try and convince her. Levy's stomach just wouldn't stop rolling. Even the thought of eating made her dizzy.

 _"Ain't_ gonna force yah," Gajeel reassured her. That got him a smile while she squeezed his hand, pressing it against her face like it was capable of pulling some of the old her back from the darkness.

"I'm _responsible_ for all this..." Levy said after a minutes hesitant silence. "I convinced Makarov to try and save him, convinced you..." Levy's voice shook. "I messed up. I _messed up so bad_. She _died_ because I was convinced I could stop it. Maybe if we'd run when she said..."

He didn't how he could convince her that it wasn't her fault. She _wasn't_ entirely wrong. But that was the horrible thing about guilt. Maybe things might have played out differently if she'd known, but that didn't mean she should shoulder the burden of blame. Definitely not alone. They'd all made choices that had led them to this point.

He pulled her from the bed carefully, letting her sit across his lap, wrapped in his arms.

"Shit happens...and it won't always happen the way you want it to, either. Only thing you really have control over is what yah do and why yah do it," He stroked her hair while she calmed her raging thoughts. "You were tryin'a save someone probably as much a victim as anyone else. Ain't _nothing_ wrong with that. Was a _good choice_. We made the same one, remember? No one forces _me_ to do anything, " He reminded her.

She nodded quickly, hiccupping.

"Won't ever wipe away the results. Won't stop any of us regrettin' not doing more. But you ain't in this alone," He muttered.

And then he felt it, like a spark igniting something inside him he had no words to describe. His heart hitching as Levy stilled in his arms, feeling it as well.

"What... what was _that?"_ She asked him, eyes wide. Feeling a pull. Weak at the moment but growing stronger with every second.

Gajeel drew back, shame in his features.

"Dragon magic..."

Levy looked suddenly panicky.

 _"No!"_ She bit out. He opened his mouth to speak but she pulled away from him. Almost falling on the floor as she scrambled back to the bed.

"I need you to go!" She said. Hurt and still in shock. "Do you have any idea what you could have done?"

"Ain't like I _realised_ what I was doing.." Gajeel pleaded his case but the lie in that stung. A part of him _had_ known... and made the choice to risk it. He would have done anything to save her life. _Anything._ If it meant giving her the opportunity to live.

"GET OUT!" She threw her pillow at him. Silence reigning when he caught it, just snatched it out of the air before it even hit. Denying her even her tiny flicker of retribution. Something that only helped infuriate her.

"Okay..." Was all Gajeel found himself able to say, dropping her pillow at the end of the bed by her feet.

He stood and left, and to Levy it looked very much like he stumbled all the way to the door.

Levy buried her face in her hands. Her life, her future could have been decided and she hadn't even been awake or aware to have had a say in it. It was likely Gajeel hadn't known the extent of what something like that could have meant. The research had all been hers and Saggart's. To mate with someone meant never being able to have children... if they weren't _his._ Never feeling anything but odd revulsion, sharing intimacy with anyone else.

Bonding knew _nothing_ for love. The truth of it was if one of the pair were _ever_ to find someone else, ever to fall in love with another, they would never enjoy that's person's touch. Never be able to live happily. Separation was impossible. No matter how much you wished for it.

Gajeel had given her a future. But a future where she had no choices, was not one she could be sure she wanted.

* * *

There was a sensation Gajeel felt was akin to having his insides pierced with hot knives but so much worse. And the curse of dark past and the ability to change his body to iron was that he actually _knew_ what that felt like.

He wanted to scream and shout. Crush rock with his fists. Pull at his hair until his scalp _bled._ Tear at his own flesh. The world just wouldn't stay still for him. His vision was blurry, throat tight. The air he inhaled burned his lungs like fire.

Of all the _stupid,_ idiotic things he'd ever done this ranked monstrously high on the list. The only difference was that no matter how much he thought it, he knew that he'd likely repeat it over and over if faced with the same choice. If her hating him was the price of her life, he'd deal with it once she _had_ one.

But the price for him was still stiff. He loved her. More than the stars in the sky, more than he'd ever loved _anything._ He would die to keep her safe. Kill any future where they spend their lives together if he had to.

Gajeel wasn't sure how he made it home. Couldn't remember most of the journey. All he knew was there was a full bottle of the strongest Fiorian whiskey ever made, a birthday gift from Juvia sitting in his kitchen cupboard gathering dust and he was going to be drinking _every single drop._

"Gajeel?!" Lily almost tripped over his own feet in surprise as his friend staggered through the door looking every bit as drunk in his entirely sober state as he planned to be in the coming hours. "How is Levy?"

"She's fine, Lils," Gajeel lacked even the drive to be angry at the torment that question caused him, and it caused quite a bit.

Gajeel saw how confused Lily was by the wrenching sorrow in his own eyes, the exhaustion in his tone. Levy was alive. He should have been happier than this, shouldn't he?

"Is everything okay? _Gajeel?"_ He asked, suddenly just as worried for his friend as he had been for Levy. Something was clearly very, very wrong.

Gajeel turned away from him to rummage in the kitchen, pulling out the bottle he'd been looking for and uncorking it with iron teeth. The first swig of liquid emptied it by a quarter, a nauseating burn colliding with his stomach. Gajeel very almost _retched._

"Yeah..." He grunted, slamming his bedroom door behind him as he went. Lily left to knock beseechingly on the other side.

"Today has been a trial as it is, now you can either open this door, Gajeel, or you prepare yourself for the reality where you'll no longer _have one._.." Lily yelled from the other side.

At the sound of Gajeel's warning growl, Lily gave the door a shove. Not hard enough to take it off its hinges, though he could if he'd wanted to, but hard enough that the frame strained, wood creaking. Letting Gajeel know he was all too serious with that threat.

There was a grunt from inside as the latch was unlocked and Lily watched Gajeel start bundling his bed clothes into garbage bags intermittently gulping down spirits.

Lily immediately knew why. They smelled of her. The whole room did. This also answered his follow up question.

As to what _exactly_ had left Gajeel in this state.

"I'ma have'ta burn it," The Dragon Slayer slurred slightly, alcohol kicking in over his all too empty stomach. Lily almost missed what he said, the smell on his breath nearly knocking him over.

"What? _Burn?"_ The Exceed looked at him confused. Gajeel pulled at his hair.

"THE DAMN BED!" In an instant his arm was a blade and the piece of furniture was cleaved cleanly in two, feathers and fluff exploding into the air.

Gajeel though had put far too much force in the swing, lodging the tip of the blade in the wood floor. Deep enough that it cast serious doubt on the return of the apartment deposit. When he yanked it finally free he lost his balance, stumbling back against the wall where he slid down to the floor.

Gajeel didn't bother getting up, instead reaching for the bottle on the side table again and downing the remaining contents. Closing his eyes as the world began spinning.

Lily, as a soldier had some experience treating broken bones and limbs on the battlefield, but none when it came to mending broken hearts. Nevermind a peculiar one like Gajeel's.

Even for a Dragon Slayer, a bottle of spirits in under five minutes was pushing it and the iron mage was out before Lily could even fully take in the sight of his utterly ruined room. Setting a blanket over the man slumped against the wall, covered in feathers and downy stuffing, l he started clearing the pieces of broken bed away. However, even cleaned out, the room still smelled _distinctly_ like Levy

"We're probably going to have to move, aren't we..." LIly muttered to himself.

* * *

Notes

Sorry for all the cliff hangers! And huge thanks for all the follows and reviews.


	17. Chapter 16

Porlyusica made her walk back and forth to the bathroom on crutches repeatedly, until her clothes were soaked through with sweat and her legs were practically numb, all so that she could be sure Levy knew how to use them. Levy though wasn't all that interested in leaving the bed, despite knowing that the old healer would be sending her home soon enough and she'd need to be mobile by then.

Honestly, the prospect of all those pitying stares made her insides squirm. She didn't want to be around people at the moment. Didn't want to hear their platitudes and sympathies, knowing how they'd talk about her being a survivor and being strong, when she felt she was neither. Didn't _want_ to be. She knew a part of her had died in that library, been changed by the event.

Levy knew nothing would ever be the same again.

On top of all that, she genuinely missed Gajeel. She was still angry but couldn't be entirely certain if he was the target she'd wanted. All Levy could say with cold clarity was that she regretted every word she'd said to him but would probably have reacted the same way if given another chance. Which sounded so _stupid_ to her she could barely wrap her thoughts around the realisation.

The books she'd managed to access had talked about the magic forming a bond so _strong_ Dragon Slayers and their mates could almost read each other's thoughts, but she felt none of that. Just a little tug on her heart when she thought of him. Guilt, pain, regret. There was less Dragon in him than the people lost to the pages of those books. Maybe it wouldn't work the same? Maybe not at all. She found herself screaming into her hands in frustration.

Perhaps the whole thing had been a imagined and she'd driven away the only man she could have ever truly said she loved.

Levy paused at the feeling, the tight yearning in her chest. The pang she felt at his absence. He'd looked so _hurt._ So desperate. She'd _wounded_ him. Levy had often wondered how it could be that a person could love someone and then do something to cause them pain, but she'd done just that. He'd done what he did because he couldn't bare the thought of losing her. .. but when he'd been holding on to life, bleeding to death in his apartment, if someone had offered her those same choices, she might have done the same to save him.

Levy loved him, yet this was all suddenly so messy and confusing. She was angry and hurt and felt betrayed and she _still_ loved him. And he more than likely felt _exactly_ the same. Who was right? Who was wrong in this? Both? Neither? It all made her head hurt.

"STUPID JERK!" Levy screamed out loud, kicking off the covers on the bed and swinging her legs over the side, hesitating as she thought about standing on her shaky legs. Her crutches currently out of reach.

"And what the heck do you think you're doing, girl?" Porlyusica called from her office door. "You walk when _I_ tell you to. Back in bed and take this, should strengthen the muscle," She held out a small vial of clear liquid, huffing as Levy took her time in drinking it.

"Oh Mavis... what _is_ that? It's fucking _foul!"_ Levy almost choked on it. Porlyusica shot her an unsympathetic look.

"Been picking up some _bad language,_ have we?" The old woman grinned slyly at her and Levy wasn't sure what was scary about that, but her skin rippled with goosebumps at the sight. "That Dragon Slayer is a bad influence," Porlyusica grumbled.

The script mage didn't bother responding, looking away to hide the red creeping across her cheeks. Her tattered love life was apparently public knowledge at this stage.

"No need to get bashful. Where _did_ he run off to anyway?" The old woman pulled a chair between Levy's bed and Wendy's while she checked the still sleeping Dragon Slayer's pulse. Carla had been back and forth so often the healer banned her from visiting. The Exceed, Levy knew, was probably waiting outside.

"I sent him away... I was afraid..."

"I imagine I know of what, too. Do you know why those women died? Why that magic almost killed you?" Porlyusica straightened Wendy's blankets.

She shook her head dumbly. The majority of her information was gleaned from somewhat unreliablely translated, rather decrepit old books.

"It was because it was rejected. Rejected, it became a poison."

That seemed to pretty much sum up Levy's romantic history all the way to present day. If there was ever something to represent dating as a woman, there it was.

 _"Gajeel..."_ There was that pang again and she could barely choke out anything more.

"Is a foul mouthed helion with _no_ respect for his elders..." Porlyusica snarled, grimly. "...and the fact that you love him as much as you do is probably the _only_ reason you're still alive. I don't know much about Dragons, but I can tell you, child, there is _no_ magic I know of that could tie you to him like you're assuming, not if you didn't want it. _Definitely_ not so easily. Those dead women are proof enough."

"That's if I'm tied to him at all," Levy whispered.

 _"Well,_ then, I recommend you learn a little more before you start throwing any more of your ire around," Porlyusica set a book with no name on her lap. Absently, Levy flipped through the empty pages. "... read up while you can." The old healer added.

"I don't understand," Levy mumbled, confused. Exactly what was she to gather from a blank book?

"I learned almost all I know from the pages of various medical books and magical tomes. I like to keep up to date as well... Do you _see_ a _library_ here, girl?" Porlyusica seemed to beam as it slowly dawned on Levy what exactly she was holding.

Levy shook her head glancing down at the pages, unable to believe her own eyes.

"Dragon Slayer Art's and Rituals," Levy spoke to the book and Porlyusica barked a short laugh.

"Write it down, you silly girl," She offered her a quill. "Closing the book will sever the link. It'll split up the large ones, just add volume two to the title if it cuts you off," The old woman explained.

Levy had thought the existence of these were a myth. The ability to read any book or document from the comfort of your own home. To have the knowledge of the world at your fingertips.

"How'd you hold onto something like this?" Levy found herself asking. The council would have taken this without a second thought. These books wouldn't just have the ability to source histories and tomes. They could access anything written on paper. Diaries. Contracts. Secrets that would otherwise never see the light of day.

They were powerful tools... dangerous even, in the right hands. You could topple nations if you wanted.

"Hard to steal what you don't know exists," She glared at Levy with a stony expression.

"I won't say a word," Levy assured her, taking the hint.

" _Better not_..." Porlyusica warned, that frightening grin forming again.

* * *

Gajeel woke to pain, disorientation and nausea. A blinding morning light streaming in through his open bedroom door. An empty bottle of booze still clutched tightly in his fist. Memories of the day before flashing across his mind like a terrible movie. Mistakes he couldn't, _didn't_ want to take back. Honestly, he didn't _feel_ any different. Gajeel wasn't sure what might have possibly been involved in Dragon Slayer mating but he was fairly sure the crippling misery, loneliness and guilt were all pretty standard with a broken heart. Nothing magical about his current hangover, either

He stared at the clean empty space where his bed used to reside and frowned; scrubbing a sweaty palm over his crusty eyes.

"Waste of a damn _bed,"_ He grumbled.

"Yes, well _I_ didn't get drunk and cleave it in two, Gajeel!" Lily laughed, appearing from nowhere to offer him a coffee.

Gajeel felt himself almost heave.

"Ughhh... no thanks, don't think my stomach would take it," He rather politely refused. An oddity considering hangovers normally left him rather ungracious.

"I'd recommend spending a few hours in bed sleeping it off _but..."_ Lily looked comically down at the space where Gajeel's bed once rested, lost in the silent joke. "Actually, I think it was probably a good thing. That mattress was _long_ passed replacement," He smiled offering Gajeel a hand instead of a mug. "Now get up, you have a visitor...and now that I know you won't drown in your own vomit, I have to check in at the guild. Warren was able to narrow down Braca's new lair. We aren't taking any chances this time. We're going to spell the area to prevent escape and close in this afternoon. I doubt your attendance will be voluntary so you might want to sober up a little."

Standing, Gajeel caught the smell; fresh where the sheets were old. The lingering scent of blood.

He hesitated to move, feeling shame.

Lily smiled evilly, shoving him hard enough that in his hungover state he stumbled out of the bedroom towards the couch where Levy was sitting, her leg wrapped and her crutches propped against the wall, just to hand.

Gajeel growled at his friend as he passed, still grinning knowingly as he strapped his sword to his back and left out the window, quietly stealing Gajeel's awkward focus in the room.

Without even looking at her he knew there was a smirk on her face.

"How long yah been here?" Gajeel asked, finding his voice. Throat dry and scorched raw from the booze he would never again be drinking.

"Long enough to turn down breakfast at least half a dozen times," Levy answered with an amused laugh that didn't seem to reach her eyes. Lily was often far too insistent when he felt something was in your best interest. She cleared her throat.

"How are you feeling?"

"Should I not be asking _you_ that?" He pointed a finger to her wrapped leg as he made his way on shaky limbs to the sink for some water to wash down the taste of his recent, unwelcome sobriety.

"I have to attend supervised strength training. The new muscle still isn't strong enough, even _with_ all those stupid potions... but it'll heal, I guess," She said miserably.

Gajeel nodded in sympathy, noticing Levy was wearing her hair down today; without the headband to tie it back, it was just long enough to cover the mark on her neck.

"Didn't think I'd be seeing you again... not for a while, anyway," He admitted. The cold water helping to settle his stomach and numb the sharp bite of his own comment. After yesterday he hadn't been expecting to see her turn up at his door first thing. Gajeel knew he probably wouldn't have let himself fall into such a state if he'd known he'd have to face her so soon after.

"I came to apologise. I'm sorry I reacted like I did, you... you _didn't_ deserve that," Levy said, tone filled with regret.

Gajeel blanched, shocked and unable to understand why it was _her_ to sound guilty when it was _him_ at fault. He'd have laughed at the absurdity in that if it was actually funny and not worrying. She'd been right to be angry at him. He knew the value of being able to make your own decisions. Having a say in your own life. Having someone take that away from you, no matter how well meaning, it wasn't anything worth celebrating.

But he was selfish and he'd been unable to face a world without her. Even one where he thought she hated him was a better place.

" _I'm_ not. I'm pretty sure I did a shitty, stupid thing..." Red eyes pierced her with a look that made her freeze with its intensity. "Old hag told me not to do anything, she _probably_ could have fixed yah up without the risk. I don't deserve the apologies _or_ the guilt, cause I'm not sure I wouldn't do it all over again." Forgiveness was something earned through repentance. Gajeel was _not_ a pious man.

Levy looked momentarily embarrassed.

"I'm not really sure you _did_ anything at all," She smiled easily at him and Gajeel felt his insides turn to jelly at the sight. She _wasn't_ angry. Not at _him_ it seemed.

"But I _felt..."_

"An echo," She reached out her hand to him, beckoning him to sit with her. "The real thing is meant to be mutual...I think it's part of the reason why all those women died like they did," She meant so violently. Resisting on every single level. Screaming and thrashing.

Gajeel looked away, unable to face her in that moment.

"You probably saved my life. And even if I hadn't the choice, at least I would have had someone I love..." Levy narrowed her eyes. "... even if he is a _jerk._ Cause when a woman throws a pillow at you, you're meant to let it hit, you know!"

"So...we aren't?" Gajeel couldn't even say the words.

"Accidentally mated? _No,_ just a regular couple. It might not even be possible with you guys. You're... more _human,"_ She said, leaning into his shoulder when he finally sat down beside her.

Gajeel's brain seemed to stall as her words trickled back to him.

"Someone you love?" He repeated slowly.

"Yeah... I do. Hell of a way to show it, right?" She laughed nervously.

Levy didn't get another breath for her next sentence as Gajeel stole all the air from her lungs. For a moment she forgot everything but him. That kiss. The need in his hands as they cradled her head. When she did manage to open her eyes he was smiling at her and she remembered just how much she enjoyed seeing those. He looked years younger when he was happy. His actual age, even.

"I love you too, Shrimp," Gajeel whispered to her before his expression turned mischievous. "Just for future reference, I think _that's_ how you're meant to tell someone yah love 'em,"

"I'll keep that in mind," Levy deadpanned.

Gajeel fixed himself deeper into the couch cushions, feeling moderately pleased with himself.

"Take it yah found out how this whole _mating_ thing works, huh?"

"I did, and the exact details are fairly sketchy, but the jist of it is a magical pledge."

The look on his face was a funny sight; disappointed disbelief etched in every inch. It sounded so _ordinary._ Especially since Braca was tearing _into_ people, searching to get it back.

"That _it?"_

"What? You expecting something _kinkier?"_ Levy asked with a knowing smile.

"Well, _yeah,_ actually...owwww," Gajeel yelped overdramatically as she thumped him in the arm.

 _"Pervert,"_ But she was grinning when she said it.

Levy's good humour faltered as he suddenly reached for her, pushing her hair off her shoulder to see it; the vicious mark she was left. She looked away, almost ashamed of it, as his fingers trailed down her shoulder and arm, all the way to her leg. Brushing over the bandage.

"Can I see?" He breathed the question he almost didn't have to courage to voice out loud.

"Took Porlyusica over an hour to wrap it..."

"And she still won't do half as good a job at it as me," Gajeel said, looking distinctly smug. Phantom Lord didn't exactly employ a resident healer. Certainly not a trustworthy one.

Levy sat back as far as she could in the sofa, letting him pull her leg into his lap. Watching with growing nerves as he unwound the bandage up from her foot. He stopped half way, his hands suddenly shaking, breath catching.

He'd been so concerned with the wound in her neck he'd never thought to imagine that the one to her leg could be in anyway worse. But it _was._ A less skilled healer or hospital might have suggested amputation. They were so lucky to have Wendy and Porlyusica working with the guild. So _unbelievably_ lucky.

Gajeel traced the dimpled, jagged craters in the skin with a new, fresh rage burning in him. It had _mauled_ her...and marked her. _Tore her up._ These were going to be permanent as well, like the wound on her neck.

"I don't know if I can get used to them. Every time I look, I _remember._ See it like it's happening again," Levy's voice sounded so small.

"Bad shit likes to follow us," Gajeel said, wrapping the leg back up quickly, trying to keep the anger from his hands. From his voice. _"_ _There,_ the woodland beast will never know," He said, catching himself; as if Levy needed any more reminders about _beasts._

"How'd you know how to do it?" Levy found herself asking. Gajeel didn't need clarification on what she meant.

"Don't know... I just didn't want to lose yah," He huffed wrapping an arm around her, feeling suddenly whole. Like a missing piece had slotted back into place.

"So I have some of you in me right now," Levy couldn't help but tease him. Gajeel laughed at her.

"Not as much as I'd like though," He said, leaning in as he nipped her jaw. "Leg or not I'd offer yah the bed if I had one,"

 _"Wait, what happened to your bed?"_ Levy shook loose to look up at him, confused.

"Got drunk and _broke_ it," Gajeel said with an almost dismissive wave of his hand.

"You are _ridiculous,"_ Levy laughed but Gajeel grew sombre.

"Well, I thought I'd messed up...and everything in there smelled like yah," He leaned his head against the back of the sofa, craning his head up to stare at the ceiling.

"I love you... but just so we're clear. .. " Levy smiled, burrowing into his side, letting the warmth sooth her aches. "... I'm _just_ your girlfriend."

Gajeel wrapped an arm around her and felt the fading power ping a response to him. An urge to hold her tightly. To keep her with him. The urge to possess, to claim. Like an unfulfilled wish. Which only told him that she was right. They _weren't_ permanently bonded. Which was an untold relief to him.

"I understand why you did what you did, even if I still don't really know how," She blinked sleepily up at him.

"Luck... maybe," Gajeel swallowed his next words in favour of an alternative. "How long did she say you were to keep it wrapped up for, anyway?" He asked nodding to her wounded leg.

"A day or so. When she wrapped it the skin was still pretty thin. She didn't want the wounds to reopen," Was the vexed reply.

"Makes sense," Gajeel caressed her knee. The rudimentary efforts to immobilise her leg were to stop her bending the joints. Pulling and stretching at the new skin before it had had a chance to toughen up. Magical healing, even by the most powerful, had its limits and required aftercare to be effective. Standing and sitting too swiftly made even Gajeel ache, even so long after his own injury.

"Would it really be that bad... bein' stuck with me?" Gajeel had felt that hurt lesson with her presence, but now there was another fear worrying at him. Chewing at his insides.

The trepidation that maybe she didn't see a future for them at all.

Levy felt herself bristle against him. Her reaction had been visceral. Instinctual.

 _"No..._ of course not, but I'd like to have a say in it. I... was just terrified and... _shocked,_ " She blinked up at him, sighing. "We might wind up wanting very different things in life. Stupid Dragon magic isn't gonna care about feelings.. and if I've learned anything it's that Braca was an _idiot_ to go through with it. No matter how much he might have loved her. Don't know about Dragon's, but people fall in and out of love all the time," She said with a small frown.

"And here I thought _you_ were the romantic one between us," Gajeel chuckled humourlessly. _"So..._ are there _any_ benefits to this stupid bond or is it all misery and fuckin' foreboding?"

"They were stronger... more reservoirs to draw magic from, I think..." Levy didn't like the idea of being used like that, from the look of revulsion on Gajeel's face, it seemed he wasn't a fan of the concept either.

"Don't particularly like the sound of that," Gajeel whispered to her, kissing her temple.

"Me neither," Levy laughed.

"Beginnin' to think these Dragon Slayers disappeared cause they were all so fuckin' _stupid,"_ Had it really been worth it? Middle of a war, taking a risk like they had.

"Maybe, I don't know," She stretched her sore limbs. "I should get to the guild... I know people were worried..." Levy made to move but Gajeel gripped her hand.

"Stay?"

There was an almost innocence in Gajeel's request. Levy wanted in that moment for nothing more than to say yes, but couldn't bring herself to it. With so much going on, something so selfish couldn't possibly be justified.

"I've an idea... how about you come with _me_ instead," She asked him. He rolled his eyes to the heavens with a huff and a groan but she wasn't phased. "Oh come on, you'll have to go to the guild this afternoon anyway, please, _come with me,"_ She tugged enthusiastically at his hand but there was a sadness in her eyes. A fear. She was _afraid._ He could practically smell it.

Levy no more wanted to go than he did and he knew it. What she wanted was time to process the horrors she'd experienced. To come to grips with the woman left behind. The person she was now. She didn't feel the _same._

Gajeel looked at her like he saw through the image she was desperately trying to portray. Right to the heartbreak and the pain and the terror laying just underneath.

"Only if yah stop poutin', Shrimp,'" He teased her lightly with a comforting smile, standing and passing her her crutches. Whatever it took for her to have a life. He'd made that promise. _This..._ this wasn't living. Not yet.

The guild hall was a mess. Mira was out with Warren and Erza scouring the city by air, and still too shaken to do much, Lisanna had retreated home, unable to wash the blood out from under her nails. Still tasting it in the air. It had taken _hours_ for her hands to stop shaking.

The bar and hall had been left to its own devices and it showed in the spilled ale, dirty benches and general disorder. Chaos had reigned in the Strauss' absence.

Levy was practically mobbed by her team mates at the door, they'd heard she was injured that morning but when they'd made their way to Porlyusica's home, Levy was already gone and the old healer was not in the talkative mood.

"Are you okay?" Jet was fixated on the visible wounds, craning his neck to try and get a better look, and Levy found herself leaning away as he tried to touch the one on her neck. Droy was left sobbing with relief clutching her hands like she might vanish into the ether.

"I'll be _fine,"_ She tried to soothe them, even though it sounded and felt like lies. "Just, a bit banged up is all," She smiled and they visibly relaxed.

Behind her Gajeel seemed to let out a squeak. When Levy turned Droy had the Dragon Slayer in a tight, awkward looking hug. Gajeel was standing there, startled into petrification.

"Laxus told us you're the only reason Levy's still with us," Droy gushed and Gajeel squirmed under the attention. Jet even seemed embarrassed.

Though his gratitude was on par with his friend.

"We don't really know what we'd have done without her. No team Shadow Gear, that's for certain," Jet said scratching his head, unable to meet Gajeel's unimpressed glare.

"I wasn't gonna let her die..." Gajeel started but paused, not really knowing how much Levy would want him to say. People seemed to know they were somewhat of an item, but this was different. This wasn't speculation or unspoken rumour.

"I know... one good thing about you seeing her, right?" Jet laughed. A little without mirth. Levy choked.

"You _knew?"_

 _"About you two falling over each other for weeks?"_ Jet barked out a short laugh. "Who _didn't?"_ He added.

"We didn't mention it in case it made you uncomfortable," Droy spoke up as Gajeel forcefully disentangled himself out of the man's grip. "Neither of us exactly approved... figured just nót mention it and wait it out."

"You mean wait for me to fuck up?" Gajeel added with a suspicious glare.

Jet and Droy shared a cursory look.

"Yeah."

"Pretty much."

They both uttered in unison.

"I'm just happy she has someone who can look out for her..." Jet bit back the rest of his sentence at the dark warning glare Gajeel sent his way, the Dragon Slayer knowing that the fairly innocuous comment was not going taken they way it was was probably intended.

"Because I _need_ protection, right?" Levy growled at the speed mage, hurt at the assumption she couldn't look after herself. That Gajeel was somehow now responsible for her.

He might openly mock her height but he'd never treated her like she was somehow incapable.

"I didn't mean it like that..."

"I don't care what way you meant it, Jet," Levy angrily fired back at him. Turning and moving off without a second glance their way.

"What's wrong with her... is she okay? I've never seen her snap like that before," Jet whispered only to yelp as Gajeel kicked him in the foot.

"She watched a woman be mulched a few feet from her, watched a fucking monster practically _rip_ her leg off... exactly how fuckin' okay you think she's gonna be, _dumbass?"_ He growled. "Surprised she hasn't snapped at yah before if that's the kinda shit you say to her," He grumbled, moving off in Levy's direction.

In a few hours they were going out to end what was left of this Dragon Slayers existence.

As far as Gajeel was concerned it was far too late for him to feel happy about that.

There were far too many casualties, too many failures on their part to count this as a victory.

* * *

Notes

I understand a lot of people found Levy's reaction in the last chapter confusing.

"…Ok, that was depressin' but does this means that Levy doesn't actually love Gajeel? I've read that part over and over again and I understand she went through something traumatic and knows what's wrong with Dragon Mating but her train of thought confuses me. Instead of worrying about how this bond could make Gajeel lose himself like this monster if something happens to her, it just gives the impression that she's going mad that her options aren't open anymore and she's forever linked to Gajeel. I feel like I'm not understanding Levy's reasoning for being angry, will it be addressed again in the next chapter?ó"

\- Guest

Gonna answer this here as well.

In a perfectly selfless world, it _might_ cross her mind. But she's _human._ And one that went through some truly horrendous shit, only to wake up to find she might have been perma - bonded to a guy she's been _sorta_ officially dating for about a week while she was _unconscious._ I don't care who the pairing is, that is _not cool._

In my story Levy is old enough to understand that love can be a very fluid thing and there are no guarantees. It develops. Or fizzles out. It can turn sour, too. She's entitled to be angry and upset. And while she's smart enough to understand and sympathise with Gajeel's reasoning, feeling trapped and no longer in control are perfectly valid emotions, too. Relationships are messy and there are rarely straightforward villains. Was he wrong or right? Neither? Both? There's only one truth in the whole thing that really matters in the end.

 _Not every relationship works out._

Levy is confused, and hurt… and waking up to the realisation that something so _important, so irreversible_ may have happened without your permission or input is not a happy person gonna make.

Trust me, been in a happy, long-term relationship a decade, would still _flip_ if I woke up tomorrow to be told the other half had somehow married us while I was unconscious and good luck getting a divorce.

There's a romanticised notion that "hey, that's okay cause I love you," that we need to ween ourselves off. She can understand Gajeel's reasoning and still feel hurt by the recklessness of it, the possible results. The heart and the head are often at odds. People are _complicated._

Also, I do love moral grey areas.


	18. Chapter 17

Levy avoided questions as much as possible where she could. Tried not to think of the way her friends were looking at her; pity and anger in their eyes. Tried to ignore the whispers she couldn't quite make out and _truthfully_ didn't want to hear. Gajeel knew what they were saying, that much was clear in the way he glowered around the hall, expression promising murder if anyone strayed too close, his very aura causing them to shrink away.

Under normal circumstances she would have chastised him for it; his obvious and unkind, rude behaviour, but inside, under the weak, watered down smile, Levy was so unbelievably grateful for how he seemed to generate a space for her amid the crowds. Dozens of clamouring voices trying desperately to find out what was happening, unwilling to wait for the guild masters input. Impatient to know what was going on.

For someone who could turn his body to iron, Gajeel was delicate when it suited him to be. And for a man who preferred moving at his own pace, he kept to Levy's like a religion. Holding her gently when she would catch her crutches on something, always there to make sure she didn't fall. Despite everything going on, despite the tension brewing like a storm in the guild, she felt safer with him around; her ever watchful shadow. Never the overbearing presence you'd expect from someone with his reputation, his temperament, instead he was a silent sentinel, content to follow her lead.

Levy barely heard a word Makarov said as the old man appeared and started to organise them into groups. Dividing up old teams in favour of new, s-class heavy ones. The world only came into focus again when Levy heard her name mentioned and several riotous shouts of objection.

"OI! I don't fucking _care_ if she'll be away from the fighting. We're lucky she's not dead," Gajeel shouted, well above the others currently voicing their objections.

Even Freed chimed in. "I agree with Gajeel, it's reckless," He added. And it was, she was injured. Weak. Willing to admit even to herself that she was clearly more than a little traumatised. But Makarov met her wide, scared eyes with a certainty that still her newly shaking hands.

"The spell she designed is intricate, it takes more time than we might have and a whole lot of power. It'll go smoother and faster with two," Laxus interjected, already having had this argument with his grandfather and having lost. The lightning mage knew just how badly this could all go, and in her present condition Levy wouldn't be able to defend herself, but if it got away, who knew how many others would be hurt or killed. The town was looking to them for help. The local forces still at war with the council over jurisdiction.

"I can do it alone," Freed seemed bothered by the assumption he needed assistance. Though even he knew that after casting the extent of magic that this spell required, he'd be in a precarious situation. Possibly no better able to defend himself than Levy. It would leave him weak.

"I don't doubt it, but this barrier needs to be completed by the time the Dragon Slayer works out something is going on," Makarov said, looking to have made up his mind on the matter. "We _cannot risk_ another escape," Mira almost flinched at the masters words, taking it harder than most. If she'd have acted sooner, if she hadn't been frozen in shock for those precious minutes, Moira would be alive and Levy wouldn't have been hurt.

Makarov looked squarely at Levy.

"If you tell me you aren't up for this, I won't press the matter, the choice is yours," The old man's tactics made Gajeel righteously angry.

Of _course_ Levy was going to agree. Everything to prove. Broken and feeling defeated. It was a manipulation and they all knew it, even her.

"I want to help stop it...before anyone else gets hurt," Levy squared her shoulders as she spoke, trying to shake herself free of the fear that was pressing down on her.

"I'm goin' with her..." Gajeel started to say but was interrupted.

"You and Wendy will be with me and Erza, Natsu's job took him as far as the islands off coast, he won't be able to help us," Laxus looked almost sympathetic. "Mira, Gray, Juvia, Elfman will be second line, Bix will cover the exit of the cavern, Ever is gonna sit this one out. Don't think stone eyes will be much use," He flashed a grin off to the side where his smirk met Ever's ferocious scowl. Arms crossed and deeply unhappy with having been sidelined.

"Not good enough!"

 _"Gajeel!"_ Levy hissed at him. "I'll be fine. Worry about yourself," She chided him and he promptly clamped his jaw shut.

In the background someone made a sound like the crack of a whip and snorted, and Levy frowned, scouring the room for sight of Cana, but with everyone crowded round the bar where Makarov was sitting, she couldn't find the woman to smack her.

"We'll be leaving at two, so if you've anything that you need to organise beforehand, make sure you get it done," Laxus announced shooting his grandfather an exasperated glance as the old man moved back to his office. Burdened by the weight of his own callous disregard.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but is our motto not something along the lines of 'family first'," Laxus rumbled quietly when they were out of earshot.

"If we don't stop it here and now, _today,_ we may find our family far smaller tomorrow, boy," Makarov said to Laxus's clueless confusion.

"And the chance of that is worth the risk?" Laxus blocked his path for a moment as he tried to disappear back into his office. When Makarov looked up at him he was old. Older than he'd ever seemed before. Laxus saw how fragile the old man's resolve suddenly was.

"I don't know... " Was the answer that stalled him, letting his grandfather slip passed leaving Laxus still standing there as the door closed.

Gajeel was glaring behind him when he turned, there was a troubled sneer on the iron mage's face, indecision and hurt in his eyes.

"If anything happens to her, I ain't comin' back," Gajeel said quietly and with resolve. He'd always been the outsider in the guild. That hadn't gotten any easier with time and reasons to stay were already dwindling. Knowing that the guild master was playing so carelessly with someone dear to him, it left him with doubts. Had the point of turning over a new leaf not been to find a home? Something better than Phantom Lord?

Laxus looked him dead in the eye when he told him, "I doubt there'd be much to come back _to,_ iron head," and it was true. The look in his grandfather's eyes said as much. If this decision, this plan backfired, he would step down, and without him there to protect the guild from the council, they would be picked apart at the seams. Their members were too reckless, stirred up too much trouble. Just like Phantom, their only protection was the fact the guild master was a wizard Saint still with some pull. Perhaps Gildarts if he were willing. Laxus was aware _he_ definitely wasn't ready.

"Freed's not on my team because he's fun to have around, Gajeel. Levy's right, we should be worried about ourselves cause wind, lightning and iron versus granite? The elements aren't swinging in our favour," He rasped worriedly.

"Let the demon have another crack then..." Laxus cut Gajeel off, a thick hand wrapped almost threateningly around his forearm.

"She'd tear him apart like an animal, and believe me, that's not something anyone's gonna want to see," He glanced over at Mira with a frown. "She's blaming herself for what happened to Levy. We let her follow through and we lose _her_ instead," Gajeel ripped his arm free. It seemed Wendy was the only Dragon Slayer in Fairy Tail not currently hung up on someone.

It was kinda funny how he never noticed the little guild couples till he was one of them.

"Think she's old enough to make those kinda decisions on her own," Gajeel snarled.

"Maybe..."Laxus uttered. Gajeel didn't want to but he understood. The complexity of it was clear to him. Sacrifice was about giving up something important for something of higher value. Laxus would let her scream out her rage at him before he let her tumble into darkness after the creature.

Sometimes they had to kill, it was unavoidable, really, but when the decision came, the only important criteria that would determine whether you could live with it or not, was the reason you did it.

If Mira killed it in rage and revenge, fueled by guilt and regret, it didn't matter what lives she saved, she'd have lost her soul in the process.

"Guess we're both selfish bastards, then, huh?" Gajeel deadpanned, the anger draining out of him. Across the room Mira picked up and threw a mug of ale against the wall in frustration before storming out and disappearing into the sky beneath a halo of black wings.

"You should spend the few hours with her," Laxus said vanishing in a streak of lightning to who knew where but if Gajeel had to guess it was to chase down Mira.

It wasn't as if Laxus had to convince him. Levy was sitting looking a little shell-shocked when he perched himself on the bench opposite her. She had a deathly pallor about her and her sweaty palms had left a stain against the wood where she gripped the edge of the table.

"Why did I agree to that?" She whispered, there were tears glistening in the corners of her eyes.

Gajeel bit his tongue before he opened his mouth, the pain reminding him to be careful with how he handled this.

"Cause the old bastard knows Freed might need the help and you're too stubborn to let some diseased gargoyle knock you down," Gajeel reached over and brushed her cheek with his thumb.

"I'm not sure I can do this," It was hard for Levy to admit that to anyone. She was a small woman, by default, most assumptions of her were that she wasn't as capable as the rest, she was usually fighting tooth an nail to earn anything different. To be able to admit to Gajeel that she didn't feel up to something was difficult.

"Don't worry, shorty, you're just there to make sure Freed doesn't botch the spell you came up with, that's all," Gajeel said and they both knew that was a stretching of the truth. Freed was meticulous. If he were to cast any kind of rune spell, you could bet he knew the magic inside and out. But it made her feel better, and that was something she was thankful for.

"I don't like the idea of you having to fight it, it almost killed you once already... but I don't think I could face it again right now."

Gajeel crossed his arms and sat up straight, a tiny fragment of a grin evident before his mouth formed the hard line that seemed to have overtaken most of his usual expressions.

"No one's dying this time, shrimp," His ears perked to the conversation Cana was currently having at the bar as her and some others helped themselves to the unattended ale. "No matter _how_ tempting..."He narrowed his eyes, unamused at how easily the woman seemed to engage in common gossip, even with everything going on.

Levy smiled at him and as Cana bent over the bar, Gajeel watched a rune hit the side of her tankard. Glowing brightly for only a second before fading unnoticed by anyone else.

The next mouthful of ale to pass Cana's lips she spat out at velocity across the counter. Gajeel didn't need super senses to smell the urine and he burst out laughing as Cana retched, doubled over and gagging. There were tears streaming down her face when she glanced their way; if looks could _murder._

When Gajeel met Levy's satisfied smile he saw the one thing she seemed unable to see in herself. He saw resilience. No matter the darkness there was a light in her that just couldn't be extinguished.

There was no weakness in failing, or being hurt or taken down by something stronger than you. It was no crime to fall.

"You can do this!" He enunciated slowly, clearly, so she understood he meant every word of that.

"Thank you," Levy said, knowing that the last thing Gajeel wanted was her involvement in anything that might put her at risk again, but despite his clear feelings on it, he wouldn't allow her to doubt herself because of them, either.

"I want to bring a few things from my apartment... would you help me home?"

"Sure, shrimp."

Despite her protests to Porlyusica, the more she walked the more strength her leg seemed to gain and she found that by the time they made it to the gates of her apartment she felt comfortable enough to limp her way across the threshold without the crutches she'd been relying on.

Gajeel lingered at the arch uncertain on where to wait for her before Levy pulled him by the hand towards the door.

"I need help getting my things, I think we can be forgiven for breaking the rules," She snickered. It seemed so silly now. So arbitrary. If she wanted to continue seeing him she'd probably need to move out, but that concept didn't unnerve her the way she would have expected before.

Fairy Hills was luckily empty, it's occupants either on jobs or waiting nervously at the guild and no one saw a limping Levy drag a nervous looking Gajeel up to her apartment in the women only complex. He was only through the door when Levy turned and put a book in his hands. She noted with amusement the look on his face taking in her room.

He looked her dead in the eye and with a nearly tone less voice announced. "You're a _slob."_

Levy frowned, indignant at the haphazard accusation.

"I have a lot of stuff and not a lot of places to put it, that does _not_ make me a slob, Gajeel," She turned away, finding herself ashamed and embarrassed all at once. Erza and her neighbours from the guild had long since grown accustomed to her collection of nick nacks and books. Shelves of which were overflowing on every wall.

"What would you care, anyway?" Levy grumbled. "Remember, I've seen... EEEEEK!" She yelped having been plucked up from the ground without warning. The book in her hands tumbling to the floor with a clatter.

"Yer like a little _squirrel,"_ Gajeel teased her. "I mean, look at all this _junk?"_ He laughed and Levy felt the blood quite literally boil in her veins. Her skin burning with indignation.

"How _dare_ _you!,"_ She squeaked. "My things aren't _junk,"_ She glanced around the room. "A lot of these are magical totems. Some of them are dangerous even. I pick them up on missions," Levy found herself sputtering. Suddenly defensive.

Gajeel set her down on her feet, picking up an oddly disproportionate clay cat figurine from a side table.

"Dangerous, huh?" He regarded her statement with obvious scepticism.

She lumbered forward to snatch the cat out of his hands.

 _"Yes,_ break this and Lily will need to start teaching you how to use a litter tray," Levy glowered at him to make a smart comment. Putting the figurine aside when he said no more about it.

"I can see why you'd feel safe here... doubt anyone would find yah in all this," Gajeel laughed again. Getting far too much enjoyment out of Levy's annoyance to care about the warning glares being fired his way.

"Is this your plan, aggravate me back to my normal self?" Levy realised as soon as she said it that that was exactly his plan. She hated how much it seemed to be working, too. This _felt_ normal. Strange as that concept was, considering,

"If you move some of those books there should be a couch under there, I think," Levy added with a reticent sigh.

 _"Should?"_ Gajeel wanted to ask if she was even sure but wasn't sure he'd stop laughing if she was actually serious and not just teasing like he suspected.

He stacked the piles of various books, on the floor by his feet, shocked to discover that most of these ones were novels. Some even falling into the erotica category. A concept that surprised him, despite it being reasonable to assume that a single woman found her kicks somewhere. With the area clear Gajeel found a piece of furniture about the size of a large armchair underneath.

"No couch but found a chair," She was rummaging in the kitchen for anything edible still in date when he said it and she spun back to him, mugs in hand, confused.

"That's my _couch,"_

 _"A couch tends to fit more than one person,"_ Gajeel brazenly retorted.

"That couch _does_ fit more than one person,"

Levy found her hand gripped in his as he pulled her into his lap with a smirk.

"Look at that, you're _right,"_ Gajeel's smile was downright predatory.

Levy groaned. "I thought my taste in men had gotten better... but it got worse, didn't it?"

"Depends," He snickered, leaning into a restrained kiss. So much affection bursting on his lips that Levy forgot what she'd been saying moments prior. "Circumstances aren't really ideal to be able to judge, " He added, breathing slow.

Levy let him hold her, wrapped in his arms. Able to finally relax she felt the exhaustion weighing on her. With uncertain hands she started unwrapping her leg, noticing Gajeel's immediately hesitation. His stiffness.

She'd barely freed her foot when she found his hand over hers, stalling her attempt to face the wound.

Levy glanced up at him with a nervous smile, "I've seen it already Gajeel, I know what's under here."

"I know, just remember it's only been a day, it'll start looking better in time."

Levy wasn't a fool though. She knew there was a difference now that the shock was gone and she was left with the grotesque consequences of it. She'd barely glanced at it when Gajeel had taken a look earlier that morning.

Gajeel took back his hand with held breath, almost waiting for her reaction.

She'd have happily disappointed him but as the bandage pulled away and she really, truly took in the sight, she felt misery break over her. People would see it and know who she was. They would _talk_ about it.

Levy ran her fingers over the dimpled flesh, eyes scrunched in concern when she realised that the new skin was numb. Lacking almost all sensation. As the new muscle grew the cavern visible in her leg would fade, the tissue bulging out again, but the _feeling,_ the nerve damage, that was something else entirely. Wendy was good but even she had her limits.

It almost still seemed like it belonged to someone else. When she did face the thought that this was hers, her scar to bear, the panic was so sharp, so unexpected that tears came rolling down her cheeks without warning.

Gajeel wanted to say something comforting but his own thoughts were in a tumble, wondering if she'd needed consoling after waking up to find herself with the marks he'd left her with. It was a harrowing thought.

He brushed the droplets from her face as they fell.

"I feel so stupid. I'm a Fairy Tail wizard. I shouldn't cry like a child," Levy wiped the back of her hand across her eyes, swallowing a sob.

"Pops never tolerated cryin'. First sign of tears and he used to roar so loud he'd make my teeth rattle. Used to think it was a show of weakness ... thing about it is that he just didn't know how to deal with it. He was a Dragon and I was a stupid little squishy kid," Gajeel smiled. "You don't have'ta explain anything. Believe me, it's better out than in," And Gajeel knew that was true. Knew how dysfunctional his upbringing had left him when it came to expressing emotions.

Metalicana had taught him strength, taught him to be physically strong... but hadn't been all that great at showing him how to live with his own human vulnerabilities. Gajeel's way of dealing with it had left him angry and lonely. Closed off from a world had seemed fairly merciless to a child. Convinced that empathy and love, friendship were all targets, weaknesses waiting to be exposed.

"Why do you pretend?" Levy sputtered.

Gajeel snorted, "Pretend what?" He asked her, one eyebrow creeping upward, opposite eye scrunched in suspicion.

"That you're not a good person."

Gajeel laughed.

"I'm a lot things but a good person isn't one of 'em," He said, exasperated by the seeming naivety in the sentiment. "I'm selfish..." He laughed suddenly. "... and fuck it, if I don't like riling people up."

"I never said you weren't _complicated..."_ She hushed.

"That's a pretty tame term for it."

"But it's true. And you're not selfish..." Levy slapped him lightly in the chest. "... it's not some crime to put yourself first, you know. Can't help anyone if you don't take care of yourself," Levy leaned in to kiss him and felt him almost tremble in response to it. Like every muscle in his body tensed and vibrated under her touch.

Gajeel groaned, pulling back from her.

"I want you," His breath caressed her cheek and she bit her lip as it set fire to her, but there was a sorrow to his voice. A pained regret.

"I want you, too," Levy said, entirely uncertain as to the sudden shift in the mood, but Gajeel's eyes were focused intently on her. Piercing her down to her core.

 _"No,"_ He uttered, jerking forward, pushing his face into the crook of her neck and inhaling as he came up to her ear. "I _want_ you," He said again with conviction, whispering to her. Levy knew what he was implying, she could feel it...and it terrified her.

"I know," She squeaked. "I don't want that for us _,"_ Levy wrapped her arms around him.

"Knew you were smarter than most," There was something in his voice. It seemed so much like disappointment. He pulled her closer. Levy felt their clothes like an oppressive barrier separating them. Despite everything. Despite all the terrible things weighing on her, the feeling of him, of his skin on hers, of him inside her, she craved that again. Hurt and broken. Unable to close her eyes without horror visiting her, but this close to him and she was undone.

Levy knew why the Dragon Slayers of old had taken mates, even during war. Even when everything was so uncertain and the risk of losing everything was so great.

They hadn't been able to help it.

* * *

Notes

I just want to say thank you for all the reviews and messages of encouragement. You guys are the reason this chapter is here on this Gajevy day of days.

Desna, you give the longest most smile inducing reviews and omg I am so far behind on my reading and I need to catch up on your latest!

Thanks to work and illness I am 30-40 chapter updates behind on my read list.


	19. Chapter 18

Standing in the guild hall, only really half listening, Levy found herself regretting that she'd not made the most of the brief time she'd had with Gajeel. It could have been the last moments they were together and the fear of what was approaching had her stomach in knots. Her mind constantly drawing her back to the memory of teeth and the shadow of wings, leaving her with shaking hands, wet with perspiration. Her very being saturated with fear.

The coming fight, however, wasn't the only cause for concern.

Gajeel's admission had shaken them both; that some other power outside of themselves, their own desire, would be a factor in their relationship had never been a consideration, not even in her darkest thoughts. He'd admitted it with a shame that hurt her, too. Levy could see it in his eyes how much it tormented him; the idea of them being together, yet constantly yearning for something more. Craving a connection that they both understood was not only dangerous but more than likely detrimental. Gajeel was a man walking a path back from darkness... and if there was one thing Levy knew, it was that the mating connection would not bring out the best in him. Possessive, controlling, violent. It changed them... and it was _this_ Gajeel that Levy loved. It wasn't certain who he'd be afterward.

Levy read all she could find in Porlyusica's but there were still so many questions the books couldn't answer. So much they'd never bothered to document. She wanted to help him. Help them both but she just didn't know how.

Lost in thought, Levy only noticed the hard elbow that caught her in the side when she was already on her knees, pain lancing up as far as her hip as the new, strengthening muscle pulled under tight skin; her guild mates roaring their offense at the interloper. The council knight pushing passed her got barely two steps before Gajeel had him off the ground and suspended by the collar. His expression dark enough to startle her. A reminder that the man she loved wasn't always so loveable. The blonde haired Knight turned several shades paler as Gajeel pulled lips back revealing a sharp, wicked set of teeth locked in by a murderous sneer.

Jet was at her side in a moment offering her aid but Levy had already climbed back to her shaky feet, unwilling to be seen as helpless.

"Please put him down, Gajeel," Makarov asked coming forward, the sea of faces parting for him.

Gajeel looked away barely a moment before the cold prickle of steel touched his chest.

"D-Do as he says and _release_ me..." The Knight stammered out the threat but Gajeel only grinned, the smile twisting his features into an unimpressed smirk. Without even glancing at the weapon, Gajeel gripped the blade and drove it forward, letting it shatter against the iron scales he'd summoned. When he dropped the man to the floor, wide, frightened eyes were staring at the broken shards littered on the wood.

"Cheap steel... great, another _flunky,_ " Gajeel growled, moving to Levy to check on her. A few years previous and the Knight might not have survived such a stupid attempt. You'd have to be dumb to pull a knife on an iron mage.

"I take it you're here to do more than assault my guild members, Anac?" Makarov ground out, addressing the blonde man with a familiarity no one questioned. Sometimes it seemed like Makarov knew everyone at the Council.

"I'm _not_ a _flunky!"_ The Knight shouted after Gajeel, visibly offended, his face turning red. But the more experienced Knights knew not to rise to any Fairy Tail baiting. He only proved Gajeel's point.

Dusting off as best he could, he tried to compose himself again.

"Master Makarov!" He bowed but there wasn't a whole lot of respect in it. He seemed unhappy with even having to adhere to what was essentially a customary greeting to someone of the old Master's rank.

"The local authorities have been _less_ than willing to help us since the death of their officer. We _know_ you have more information than you've disclosed."

 _"Really,_ and how exactly would you figure that?" Laxus said with an expressionless face and cold, calculating stare that made him look more like his father than Makarov.

"You mean you _aren't_ organising against this monster?" Anac said with a disbelieving laugh; confident, and looking round at the guild members with all the certainty of a man who'd just caught them red handed in something less than upfront.

"We're planning a _barbecue!"_ Bickslow shouted out from the crowd to a few reluctant and muffled snickers that made even Gajeel crack a grin. Because rebellion against authority, what _wasn't_ there to love?

"We _aren't idiots_ , we _know_ you're going after it."

There was a lengthy, terse silence during which Levy watched Makarov's face change. Felt power charge the room briefly before fizzing out anticlimacticly. The old man's reminder to the Knight to take care in what he chose to say next.

" _Prove it!"_ The guild master barked in challenge.

There was a look of shock on Anac's face before Laxus took him by the back of his coat and dragged him to the doorway onehanded as he flailed and struggled uselessly, tossing him unceremoniously out into the street like some drunk at closing hour.

"Don't come back here," Laxus said with authority as the man straightened his jacket. Whatever Anac might have planned to say or do, he quickly changed his mind as he noticed people had gathered to watch the spectacle, and he was suddenly put under scrutinising public eyes. After a cursory glance around, he turned and disappeared into the crowd, dozens of faces following his brisk, aggravated march.

"They'll _follow,"_ The lightning mage said, glancing back over his shoulder to his grandfather, exasperated that their plans were already being threatened and they hadn't even left the guild yet. When that Knight returned to his superiors, no doubt, they'd all be placed under watch. Time was now against them.

"Oh, maybe _not,"_ Ever patted Laxus on the arm and slunk out the guild doors after tthe man. Her stone eyes might not be effective against a stone Dragon Slayer, but that rune Knight wasn't going anywhere if she caught up to him.

"Okay, _one_ disaster averted," Gray mumbled with a snarky air but the general disorder was silenced as Makarov put up a hand.

"If we have any chance, we need to go now, but I understand the risks you are all taking and I have no intention of letting you face them alone."

Laxus sucked in a very audible breath, frowning darkly as his grandfather spoke. Clearly, this wasn't information he'd been made privy to beforehand. Makarov was a powerful wizard, a Saint, but he was still a very old man. This put him at risk.

"Can I talk to you a moment, gramps?" He whispered to him as the groups sorted themselves out.

"If you think I'm going to let my grandson face a creature like this without me, you've another thing coming, boy," Makarov was concerned for him. For his wellbeing. His safety. Laxus' own father wouldn't have been as concerned.

"Okay, but stick with Bix at the entrance," Laxus didn't need to explain why he'd asked. It was likely to be a tough fight, even more so if he had to worry about Makarov.

The old man's face fell as he turned, catching sight of Bickslow as the man used his totems to annoy Erza, holding up his hands in mock surrender when she put the tip of a sword in his face, tongue lolling out of his head.

"I'm regretting it already..." Makarov grumbled to Laxus' satisfied smile.

 _"Good!"_

* * *

Freed flew Levy outside of town, a good few miles beyond even the border hamlets dotted in the woods and set them down in a barren field in the upper hills. The earth was dry, no birds in the trees, no insects and it seemed not even the weeds had taken root in the cursed soil.

As Freed unpacked their books and supplies, Levy reached down to touch the strange ground. She pulled back her hands sharply, wincing; her fingers hot and reddening.

"What is this?" The soil wasn't just dead, it was _poison._

"I don't know, chemicals in the ground leaking up, magic gone wrong. There are ruins of an entire town in the caverns below that no one can explain," Precisely where the creature they suspected had retreated to. He looked around, almost interested before focusing back on the parchment he'd started to unroll. "Nothing has been able to grow or live here for generations."

Levy found it difficult to focus, very much in spite of herself. This was _important._ People's lives depended on them but she couldn't straighten out her thoughts. Freed coughed, drawing her attention back to him, realising her distraction.

"I may need your assistance after all," He sighed unhappily, pointing to a last minute change to the runes she'd made at Makarov's request right before they left. "I don't understand this addition. The original spell is challenging as it is," He huffed to her.

"It was Master who suggested it, said that it wasn't enough just to contain him, since they'll be underground, we're gonna need to seal his magic as well. They'd still be vulnerable," Levy felt Freed scrutinise her from underneath the wave of hair hiding most of his face, eyes narrowed.

Levy looked suddenly nervous.

But he just chuckled and turned away sheepishly. "I apologise, I work with Bickslow, Ever and Laxus... working with prudence and caution is something of a new experience," He joked.

"I work with Jet and Droy, you don't need to tell me about it. Jet's approach runs us straight into trouble every time," She found herself laughing before memory of her treatment of them sobered all humour. Levy closed her eyes, recalling how she snapped at them before. Her own trauma was turning her into someone she didn't necessarily like.

Freed made another small adjustment to her spell, a now monstrously intrique series of runes spelled out for the moment on parchment. Runes they would need to transcribe into the earth at five separate points above ground to seal the creature in the caverns below.

A process they couldn't start until the others could guarantee it was even there. Despite Warren's certainty, Freed had reservations. The man pulled out a map and held it for Levy to examine.

"Each of the five points are about a hundred meters apart, once we get it set up it should be enough to encompass a substantial portion of the cavern below us. Gajeel and the others will need to signal us once they've engaged it, keep it in the open and give us time to set up the runes," Freed explained and Levy scrunched her eyes in thought. Running from point to point was going to be a trial.

"And we couldn't just mark down four seals and activate the last when we have him in range?" She asked, furrowing her brow.

There was almost an air of accusation in his tone. "Without the last one they fade fast. We could set them up now but they'd likely be unusable when the time comes," He gave her a dubious look. "Don't blame me for _your_ spells shortcomings," He rasped but the straight line of his mouth couldn't hide the amusement in his eyes. "You should be proud, a spell specifically designed to contain a Dragon Slayer and their magic is no small feat... there's really no such thing as perfection," He finished.

Levy felt the afternoon air ground her; the days were growing colder and she felt the chill already prickling at her skin.

"I don't like the idea of trapping Gajeel and the others with it," When her eyes met Freed's there was a worry that passed between them. He no more liked the idea than she did.

* * *

The smell was there. The same one from before. The stench of decay and rotting flesh. Of sickness. Gajeel was visibly straining to force back the urge to retch as it assaulted him. Putrid and foul, potent enough to poison even the taste of his own saliva as he swallowed. But at least they knew that Warren's information was correct. They _were_ in the right place after all. Whether or not it was still lurking here, it had certainly been here recently.

The mouth of the cave took a narrow winding path almost half a mile, curving down deeper into the earth than any of them were expecting it to. It seemed to stretch on forever. Growing small enough at points that Laxus and Gajeel had to stoop and almost half crawl through the spaces. It was a difficult path, treacherous enough that they were grateful Makarov had been convinced to remain at the entranceway with Bickslow. Wizard Saint or not, he was still an old man under it all. And this was not something any of them would want to put him through.

"How much longer?" Gajeel found himself growling out loud only for a disconcerting voice to answer in his head.

"Quit complaining, tough guy, you're almost there. You should see a large cavern ahead." Warren's words echoed with silent laughter. There was something unsettling with having someone else's voice ringing between his ears. It was efficient, Warren could even link them all together for group discussion if he had too, but Gajeel didn't enjoy knowing someone could rummage around in his head like that.

"Don't worry, I won't go blowing your kinky secrets all over the guild, Gajeel, little thing called _professionalism,"_ Warren chastised him. Somewhere back in Magnolia, Gajeel just knew that Warren was grinning like a cheshire cat.

"Will yah stop answerin' questions I ain't even asked?" Gajeel blurted out making Laxus laugh and Wendy grin.

"I _know..._ it's adorable!" Wendy remarked to the voice in her head only she heard, giving Gajeel a teasing grin.

Behind them Erza interrupted.

"I'm not entirely comfortable trusting the element of surprise to these silence runes..." There was a snicker from somewhere behind her that sounded suspiciously like Juvia. Erza's tone softened somewhat as others started laughing under their breaths, the general mood lifting. "... so perhaps we can all mock Gajeel's love life later?" Erza added.

"Great, let's all have a good ol' chuckle at my expense," But Gajeel felt a smile tug at his own lips. There was something pleasant about the casual banter. They weren't afraid of him. He hadn't realised just how hollow and unfulfilled he'd been, left with the cold feeling that the people he worked with were wary of him. Might always be. This was the sort of conversation friends had.

"Not friends, _family!"_ Came the voice again in his head.

"Would you _quit_ that already?" Gajeel barked in frustration.

Things settled into a calmer silence afterward.

For a while at least. Until they heard the _wailing._

Wendy was the first to pick it out. The pitch too high to be human, so shrill it almost sounded like the wind, cutting over the dank rock, but while her sense of smell may have been the weakest of the Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail, her ears were easily the best.

Those were _screams._

When Gajeel and Laxus eventually processed what they were hearing, a look passed between them.

Because an animal was never so dangerous as when cornered... or a man more lethal when he'd _nothing_ left to lose.

"He sounds in pain," Wendy muttered.

 _"Good!"_ Mira snarled, any other comment quietened immediately by the look Laxus threw back her way. Unimpressed with the venom that seemed laced in her words. A hate that was present in almost everything she did these last days.

"This isn't just about taking this thing down. It's _suffering._ And it's gonna make sure others suffer right along with it. We're here to help put an end to that," Laxus made sure to say it loud enough for the rest of the group to hear.

 _"_ You're almost at the main cavern. You should be seeing the town now. Levy and Freed are waiting in position _, "_ Warren's voice reverberated round all of their skulls.

Gajeel winced; a headache forming.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," Warren added and Gajeel knew those words were meant for him. "I'm giving her the same advice, just so you know _,"_ Warren laughed in his head and Gajeel smiled to himself. If was no use getting angry at someone who wasn't even there. It was definitely not beneficial to be getting annoyed at someone who could so casually take a stroll through his mind, his memories at will.

"You really are _much_ smarter than you let on. Maybe little Levy isn't so crazy after all," Where Warren's final comments before the somewhat one sided conversation ended abruptly. The party reaching their destination.

Gajeel's eyes widened somewhat comically at the cave. Ceiling was over two hundred feet high if it was ten, the wet stalagmites glistening in the dying light of the few still functional lacrimal, hanging from the crooked, rusting lamp posts. Throughout the area where rows of buildings; shops, houses, their walls and roofs left in ruin. Cracked and crumbling. An entire town inexplicably sunk into the earth, hundreds of years ago.

"Anyone else thinkin' that him coming here and the fact that _here_ is a town sunk into the rock ain't a coincidence?" Gajeel asked, suddenly worried.

No one responded to him but Erza looked to be far more cautious than she had been moments before; her mouth a harsh, stern line.

The screaming had stopped as they'd approached the dead town, only the faint sounds of scrapping stone echoing in the faded light greeted them. The quiet yellow light creating malevolent shadows at every turn.

"Warren, tell those two up top that we're almost ready to go," Laxus breathed.

Under their feet the ground shook, disturbing stone and rattling the very bones in their bodies; hairs prickling with electricity as the air was charged with an energy that left them fighting back nerves.

Something rumbled; a low warning tone and movement drew their eyeline above the cracked streets, the broken walls and moss covered stone, drew them to the head that rose over the two story building near the main square. Teeth the size of swords. A stone skull easily the size of a carriage. Over it's wide shoulders could be seen the broken stubs of its savagely removed wings.

"That seal ain't gonna fuckin' work."

Because as difficult as it was going to be to seal Dragon Slayer magic, no person, no mage, no council possessed the ability to seal an actual, real life _Dragon._

* * *

Notes

We are about half way through this story... Lol you didn't think this was all of it, right? And Natsu plays a larger part in the second half.


	20. Chapter 19

Gajeel's world was sent spiralling. His feet barely visible in the dim light as he sailed through the stagnant air; boots flashing against stone and dirt so quickly he could barely tell if he was upright or otherwise. The strike slapped into him so hard he couldn't _breathe._ Body registering only a solid impact, so quick he very almost didn't even see it. When he landed the air surged back into his lungs with a sharp sudden pain as he realised he was upside down, legs and backside pointing up the cavern wall that he'd hit. Even covered in iron he felt the effects of both impacts in excruciatingly _painful_ detail.

 _"Owww..."_ Was all he found himself capable of vocalising as the nausea subsided from his skyward trip, leaving in its wake a pain that made his hands tremble.

He coughed, checking his ribs and wincing as he fell to the side, trying to right himself, still impossibly dizzy. For a second he worried they were broken, by the damned gods above if breathing didn't actually _hurt,_ but his probing fingers determined they were only bruised and he was the luckiest son of an asshole Dragon to be walking the earth. He looked around at the rubble that had ended his descent some ninety feet from the Dragon the others were engaging and _blanched._

He hadn't noticed when they arrived, hadn't had much of a chance to notice much after finding themselves face to face with a Dragon, but as he fought to bring himself round, his vision fixed on them and he discovered he could suddenly look at nothing else. Not the Dragon. Not the battle. Underneath him he found _bones._ They were everywhere. In every ruin. On the broken streets. Too big to be _entirely_ human, skulls deformed with protruding foreheads and tiny eye sockets. Large, aged skeletons that easily put their former height around the eight foot mark. Their faces were more _teeth_ than anything. Long, jagged, twisting things; a grin he swore he'd remember. Terrifying in new, vulgar ways. _Wrong. Wrong, in every sense of the word._

"If you're done taking a nap?" Laxus appeared in a flash of light at his feet. The sharp biting tone masked an obvious concern at having seen Gajeel hit by that things tail and sent ricocheting through several stone walls on his collision with the cavern wall.

Gajeel snorted, reluctantly taking the outstretched hand Laxus decided to offer him. He noted that the lightning mages fingers was blood slicked and crusty in parts with dust and dirt. Gajeel's eyeline followed it upwards, the wound concealed by Laxus' rather impractical silk shirt. His normally disinterested expression was just as pained as Gajeel's.

In any other circumstances Gajeel would have given the man's injury more thought but his attention was drawn back to the current fight as Mira's enraged shrieks stabbed painfully at his ears and pulled Laxus away.

From above, hovering just out of reach, Erza and Mira were presently raining down destruction on the creature, sailing in to attack its face every time either of them spied an opening. Aiming for anything that might be vulnerable. However, none of it looked to be doing much damage. Even the strongest attack provided only a distraction as it swatted overhead clumsily, it's other clawed hand clenched tight around something on the ground.

Gajeel wasn't the only one that looked to have taken a hit in the brief initial fray. Elfman, as big as he was, was nowhere to be seen while Gray looked to be cradling a broken arm as he worked his magic with the other, sending ice skittering up its massive legs in an attempt to immobilise it, all the while Juvia devoted herself and her magic to shielding him from a second strike. The notion of any kind of tactic or formation had disintegrated the moment they realised they were fighting a _Dragon,_ not simply a Dragon Slayer.

With some distance however, Gajeel had the opportunity to study it more. Watch how it moved. How it attacked. Realising that calling it a Dragon was not only a _stretch_ but probably even _offensive_ to the real thing. The creature that was left was smaller than a typical Dragon, roughly half the size of any they'd seen, and without _wings_ it looked more like a wyvern than an actual Dragon at all. Although, it was _stocky_ instead of the wyverns usually slender and elongated form. Limbs almost impedingly bulbous and shorter than its body seemed to require. It couldn't run. Couldn't fly. The only part of it capable of any true speed was that tail; almost twice the length of the whole body, cracking menacingly like a stone whip.

The creature snarled at them with darkened teeth. The sound rattling stone scales that at a glance looked to be two feet thick at least, a putrid liquid oozing out from between the joints.

A bolt of lightning cracked in the distance; a blinding flare of light and the creature howled, the radiance scorching its eyes and forcing it to rear up.

So far, the only thing they'd done to have dealt more than an inconvenience. Laxus' doing, it appeared; that stone hide was proving a more than effective shield from even his direct attacks so he was left to resort to the indirect kind.

Gajeel noticed as he ran back toward the fray that the putrid old air had begun blowing a steady wind. Soft at first but gradually picking up speed. Pushing and whipping at his head.

The iron mage grinned; he could practically _feel_ Wendy call on her Dragon Force, summoning that power with as much ease as the third generation Slayers, Sting and Rogue. They used lacrimal to do it. Gajeel had no idea how she managed.

As Gajeel neared again he saw the youngest of the Dragon slayers as she blurred around it, landing attack after attack but Wendy may as well have been buzzing like a fly for all the attention it gave her. It failed to even react to those hits.

The really interesting thing about this whole fight was how much of its focus it gave _Erza;_ the woman hovering above like some sort of angel of death. You could say that it was targeting her because of her strength, but for the fact that it gave no mind whatsoever to any of the rest of them. Not Mira. Not Gray. Even after that debilitating flash of lightning, Laxus was still almost non-existent. A gnat on its back and nothing more.

It screeched at the woman above who dodged a calculated swipe of its claws and Gajeel heard language in the noise, positive he'd just heard it scream the name 'Irene' at her. The first of the Dragon Slayers, he recalled from the books Levy had shown him.

Gajeel threw himself back into the fight, summoning a barrier of iron to deflect the tail that had changed direction and almost caught Laxus across the back as he attempted another lightning attack. The man rolled to the side as Gajeel's wall fell but the barrier had provided just enough warning and protection to let Laxus evade what would have been a bone breaking hit. Grumbling as he came to his feet Laxus threw him a withering glance; knowing he had Gajeel of all people to thank for his current state of good health.

But Gajeel's smug grin was suddenly returned and he saw it only a moment too late. That blasted tail swiping back around, targeting _him_ this time. Braca, or rather, the creature he'd become barely seemed even aware of this portion of the fight, that tail seemed to be responding all on its own. Like it had a sentience all of its own.

A blur struck Gajeel from behind and flattened him into the earth as the stone limb skirted just above his head.

He heard Wendy huff from her position on his back. Her eyes, her hair and _skin_ were almost brighter than the lacrima atop the lampost; she _glowed_ with power.

 _"Owwww,"_ She groaned in pain before huffing in frustration, the mirroring sentiment making a laugh bubble in Gajeel's chest. He imagined colliding with an iron Dragon Slayer was no more fun than hitting that stone wall. But she was on her feet a moment later. Brushing herself off.

"Thanks, Kid," Gajeel smiled at her and she paused as if she were seeing him for the first time, but there was no time for any response as she was forced to dodge back herself.

Then silence seemed to de end on them as the earth shook under their feet and Gajeel watched the Dragon's maw open, watched it take aim at Erza, knowing precisely what that meant. But they all had their weaknesses, and Erza was no exception.

Time seemed to slow. The particles of dust billowing in waves across his vision as Gajeel watched in horror; Erza summoning her toughest armour, bracing for the impact. Pride. Stubbornness. Those were _her_ weaknesses. He couldn't hear himself shouting. Couldn't tell if anyone else was doing the same. This wasn't like that cannon blast she'd taken in that battle with his old guild. An impact like the one currently brewing, _underground,_ could potentially bring the entire roof down. _Shred_ her. Erza probably thought she could deflect some of that energy, but it was a fools hope at best. Gajeel knew that it would _swallow_ her.

He wasn't prepared for it when it hit. The roar struck and it seemed to consume all the oxygen in the room. Hardly visible through the deafening maelstrom they watched her armour tear away, piece by brutal piece, the force of the strike holding her in place, trapping her at its core while rock and air and magic assaulted her.

People where screaming, attacking the beast relentlessly in an effort to dissuade its assault, tear its focus from her, for even just a moment so she could free herself, but the length of the roar seemed impossibly long. Seconds felt like minutes as it continued on and _on._

There was a shriek as Gajeel watched a shadow streak straight through the hurricane of stone and a bloodied Mira hit the stone wall of the cavern, a dazed and injured Erza in her arms on the far aide. Finally free from the epicentre of the Dragon roar. Erza was so bloody he couldn't even make out her features. Couldn't tell where hair ended and skin began. For the few moments she was engulfed, Mira looked only a little better. Her normally flawless, marble-like skin was peppered with angry, bleeding wounds. Pieces of rock were jutting out of her arms and legs like spines.

Erza's concerns though proved to be very well founded as above them stone had begun to fall from the ceiling. Rocks crashing into the town ruins, flattening the remaining structures.

Had that blast missed her and the cavern taken the full force, the entire place may have just come toppling down on all their heads.

The creature turned in a slow, menacing, animalistic swivel. Looking at the two women with a heated glare that visibly terrified Mira. The demon of Fairy Tail had unwittingly locked eyes with it and muffled an uncharacteristic sob as salty tears patterned down onto Erza's still face as it turned to corner them, blocking any exit with its large granite body. It wasn't for herself that Mira wept. Instead it was for her friend. Because while she might be able to slip out of this... it wouldn't be possible with Erza in her arms. Gajeel knew this. Just like he knew that Mira was going to die with her before abandoning her.

The space between the women and the beast was mere feet now as its maw inched closer to them. Gajeel saw Laxus try get to them to intervene, only to fall back as a boulder the size of a carraige thundered to the ground in front of him, driving him onto his ass.

And it was then, as he rolled to his feet that Gajeel felt it. The power in the air. The _magic._

There was a flash of red light and as they all watched, a waterfall of runes fell down from the roof around them before vanishing like mist. The Dragon seemed to sense the spells purpose and went _wild,_ hurling itself against the new barrier which appeared to strain slightly but to Gajeel's gleeful, prideful surprise, held firm regardless.

It was still screeching the name 'Irene', still aiming for Erza with a madness that shook him to the core, but the magic _held,_ and no matter how much it tried, its claws were just always out of reach. It's teeth held just feet from their target by a magic stronger than it was. The red head cradled carefully in Mira's arms was just beyond the barrier Levy and Freed's magic had created. _Safe._ But it had been close.

Gajeel took stock of their situation. Elfman was unconscious, Juvia was tending to Gary's arm, her own body torn up from shards of rock, his injured limb clutched closely to his chest. Mira was limping back to the entranceway, preoccupied with a gravely injured Erza who only seemed to highlight Mira's much smaller stature as she took up space in the take over mage's arms. Mira unwilling to set the woman down as there were still chunks of stone the size of her brothers head falling from a height.

Wendy was the only one relatively unmarked _._ Her magic made her _fast._ Too fast to be hit with anything the cavern or the creature it held could throw at her, it seemed. Laxus also had speed on his side, but he seemed somewhat drained at this point, having wasted a lot of own magic trying to breach its stone hide unsuccessfully.

Gajeel took stock and realized he had magic to spare, but his ribs ached something fierce and he didn't enjoy the idea of Wendy wasting her spells to heal him, especially when that magic was all that was stopping _her_ from becoming a Dragon Slayer pancake. She'd already been using Dragon force for the last number of minutes, something he honestly found astounding. It was a substantially draining spell and he was sure she was perfectly aware that the clock was ticking on when that magic would fail and leave her powerless, trapped with the rest of them in Levy and Freed's Dragon cage. Trapped with a bellowing beast that had just been denied its prey.

Gajeel started probing for any weaknesses he could exploit, any gaps in its armour. Underneath the Dragon, iron spikes jutted up, hoping to perhaps slip between scales but Gajeel knew fairly quickly that he couldn't summon the speed or force enough to puncture through. His iron _bent_ on those scales. Twisting as they collided with the stone. Any cracks he managed to make were superficial at best.

It seemed hopeless. They didn't have the strength to outright face it. Even worse, at the moment they were stuck in here with it as Laxus ordered the others to retreat. Stuck for as long as that rune wall lasted. As long as Freed and Levy's magic could feed it. Because something this size, while it fought to hold a Dragon in check would need constant supplies of power.

Magic ineffectual and escape blocked by their own mages Gajeel found himself struggling to keep the panic down. He called out for Warren, hoping to pass on a message to the surface to drop the rune wall but there was only silence in his head. Warren either couldn't hear him or wasn't currently listening. The absence of an escape hit him hard. He was a Dragon Slayer. They weren't designed to live in cages. Freedom and space were almost in their _blood._ This mission had become a disaster.

While Gajeel kept dodging and striking with futile iron lances, something charged the air again and there was a surge of magic as the Dragon suddenly rose up, clawing at its own throat _ripping_ into its own scales. They watched it gasp and caught the smell of a foul wind as the thing lost its breath; was suddenly denied the very air it needed to breathe. It's throat constricted by an invisible force around it.

Laxus whistled in appreciation as Wendy quite literally pulled the air from Braca's enormous lungs. Increasing the pressure around his throat simultaneously. She had command of the air. The wind. Even _Dragon's_ needed to breathe.

"Don't think I've been shown up this much in a very long time, Gajeel," Laxus smirked. Both of them realising just how much focus they'd put on being stronger than their opponents. When really, they needed to be smarter.

Gajeel bellowed with laughter. Wendy was fighting stone with wind and there they were feeling _sorry_ for themselves like a pair of old, useless men. Eye on the exit instead of the win. Victory now possible as it tore away several scales exposing raw, diseased flesh underneath.

Clenching his fist and sucking in a breath, Gajeel roared, taking aim straight for the Dragon's exposed throat. A glance toward Laxus showed him doing the same, timing it so they could be synchronised.

Between them the noise rivalled the beasts, shaking the walls and rattling teeth as Gajeel's iron broke through the damaged stone remaining and Laxus' lighting followed its path, lancing into Braca's now vulnerable flesh.

They kept it up as long as they could, till their lungs were on fire and their legs weak, but it was Wendy's fall from the air that brought everything to an abrupt and jarring, _screaming_ halt.

She fell like a doll. Limp and unconscious. Arms and legs twisting aimlessly through the air as she plummeted to the ground. All her reserves of strength gone. Like smoke.

Suddenly able to breath again, the Dragon finally turned its attention to them with a vicious snarl that turned their blood cold, it's gaze heated and now fixed squarely on Wendy laying in the dirt at its feet. It lifted up a clawed foot and brought it down hard, intending to crush her, but Laxus saw it coming and streaked in, plucking her up before it hit.

Unfortunately, the man misjudged just where that near invisible barrier was and to Gajeel's horror, hit it at full force bouncing away. The impact was so violent Wendy went sailing out of his arms and he was left sitting in old bones, dazed and confused.

Gajeel wondered if Warren was relaying any of this back to Freed and Levy up top. If it was simply the barrier blocking communication. If the telepath was aware of anything at all. Gajeel sucked in a breath.

Levy and Freed had come through up top for the guild. They'd enforced a wall so strong that they'd trapped a Dragon and three Dragon Slayers behind it. Gajeel knew it was now up to them to see this done.

The cavern was presently suffering for all the fighting that was taking place. The others had withdrawn under orders pulling back into the tunnel with the injured. There were too many unable to fight and too much debris falling for them to attempt to help. Laxus and Wendy had the speed to evade and Gajeel the protection of his iron to keep the worst of it off them. The rest were vulnerable. They would only get in the way now and they knew it all too well.

Laxus scrambled for Wendy again as Braca surged toward her once more, jaws open and snapping at the dirt where she'd been lying moments before as Laxus rolled them both out of the way. There was some intelligence left in it still as they watched it duck and angle its head low enough that the wound in its throat was mostly concealed, protecting its newly exposed weakness in the neck. Protecting against any other attacks that might land in the same area.

"Think yah got one more bolt in there?" Gajeel asked Laxus. A plan forming.

 _"Abso-fucking-lutely,"_ The lightning mage growled.

"When I say, hit _me_ with everything yah got!"

Laxus gave him a pointed look. "So you want a casket or an _urn?"_ He asked jokingly.

" _Ha ha,"_ Gajeel mumbled. Muttering "fuckin' jerk," under his breath before smiling. Finally getting what Levy meant by her unusual term of endearment. Laxus was a cocky shit. Gajeel was slowly coming to realise just how annoying that could be.

"What was that, _Metal Breath_?" Laxus put one hand to his ear, pretending he hadn't heard him. "Didn't catch that over how much this is gonna _hurt,"_ He laughed.

Gajeel laughed as he started running toward Braca. Underfoot, chips of granite were moving and disappearing, trying to trip him, flying at his skin attempting to tear through his scales. The pitter of stone against iron was almost loud enough in his ears to be distracting. Ahead of him he could see the breath being drawn, the roar being summoned to obliterate him. To catch him in the maelstrom like it had Erza. To tear him apart.

At full sprint he slid to the ground, letting momentum carry him forward as he skid in the earth, throwing up dust enough to obscure the Dragon's sight of him. He felt his hair snag on rocks and grit, pulling sharply at his scalp as he twisted his face away while the roar sailed suddenly overhead, missing by a breath. The proximity alone was enough to crack his armour and Gajeel could feel the surface bend and buckle like tin in places. There was an absent thought that hit him as he focused on anything other than the sound of it, a thought that Erza was something other than Human to have been caught at the core of one of these and still be _breathing,_ because he couldn't say that one of these in his face would leave him anything other than very, _very_ dead.

Gajeel came to a stop under its head, almost blind himself with the dust and the noise, but experience put him on his feet quickly, an iron lance driving straight up into it's still open wound. He drove it upward with everything he had, pushing until he felt liquid slicking his arms.

"NOW!" Gajeel screamed, eyes closing against the dirt and grit stinging them.

He was wholly unprepared for the energy that Laxus hit him with. He'd taken to practicing against this specific kind of attack since the first time Laxus had put him on his ass, but Gajeel realised now that the man couldn't possibly have been giving it his all.

Because if Laxus had wanted him hurt, it wouldn't have taken him more than one hit to do it.

Gajeel scrunched his eyes and bit down as lightning raced up his limbs and seared his insides, but above him the Dragon screamed, shuddering and convulsing as Gajeel provided a direct conduit straight under its skin; his iron embedded deeply in its flesh.

When it fell forward Gajeel only narrowly avoided being crushed as Laxus knocked him out of harms way. Both men lay among the loose stones and rubble, the Dragon twitching beside them, the sound of its laboured breathing broken only by the odd patter of still falling rock.

Off to the side an unconscious Wendy was still resting, nestled beneath the arch of the bridge in the town square. On closer examination it looked to have been a sculpture rather than a real life functioning bridge. The bronze providing a shield from any possible falling rock.

The Dragon beside them moved a little, the sound of stone grinding against stone proving so startling that both men found themselves clumsily scrambling to stand, panic and exhaustion making them unsteady.

It couldn't be still able to fight, it _couldn't,_ because they had nothing left. They were alone and it had taken all they had to bring it down the first time. Taken an entire team to exploit the one weakness they'd found. Gajeel felt his heart hammering in his throat as it tried to move, shifting its feet underneath it.

It stretched but thankfully lacked the strength to rise, and it seemed to settle after a few brief attempts, holding a clenched fist out in front of its snout inhaling deeply. A whine slipping from it. A pitiable, terrible sound.

"What's it hiding?" Laxus asked. Eyes narrowed as he tried to make out what the thing had been holding onto this whole time, clutched in a clawed hand. The situation might not have worked out so well had it been using both limbs to strike at them instead of just one.

As if it were answering him the fist opened carefully and they could both see what had been resting there; the bones. The old, small, human skull cracking from a combination of age and impact. The discoloured, browning ribs and spine.

Neither of them needed to ask who the body belonged to. There was no point, no doubt as to who it could have been. They both knew that there would only be _one_ person it would bother to cradle like that. Only one it would risk losing its life to protect. Even though all it currently held were dried out remains.

That was Braca Valdis' dead mate. They both knew it. That's why it chose to come here, despite the fact that it might be trapped as it grew in size. Lost to the earth like the town. There was little granite here for him to feed on or use for magic...and it was a _long_ way to the surface.

"How is it that we won, but I don't really feel like this is much of a victory?" Laxus whispered, pained at the sight in front of him. Enemy vanquished, no more loss of life. He glanced around to Gajeel, his stare brooding, perhaps even a little broken.

"Ain't any winners here," Gajeel said, and he meant that. This man had hated what he ultimately became. Had been driven to madness as he lost _everything_ that mattered. His last sight before being trapped in the ice that mutated him so badly had been that of his daughter, giving her life in a futile attempt to protect him.

The Dragon breathed its last as the remaining parts of its body solidified in stone. Blood and tissue hardening as it faded from life. Nothing more than a statue now.

There was no celebration to be had in this. Too many were dead and they hadn't succeeded in saving the one who probably needed it the most. None of this was _right._

Gajeel took Wendy in his arms as the pair of them picked their way out of the caverns. The seal from above having broken as some point, unnoticed, a miracle it had even lasted as long as it had, and as they moved toward fresh air, Wendy also began stirring. Heartbeat getting stronger as the minutes passed though she didn't wake. At points the tunnel had all but caved, yet, as they marched through the mud and gravel, they found that these areas had been reinforced with ice props and pillars to keep their narrow and vulnerable sections open just enough to squeeze through.

The others had faith that they would make it. They _believed_ in them. Made sure to keep the exit clear for their return. Like success was a certainty and hadn't been such a precarious thing. Gajeel was smiling as he picked his way over a jagged rock, despite the now pounding pain in his chest. His limbs weary.

The rest were waiting outside, tending to their injuries. Despite knowing very well that she would be miles away, Gajeel still looked for Levy, catching himself as the pang of disappointment kicked in when he realised she wouldn't be there.

"You guys did it?"

Mira asked, eager for good news while they were still waiting for Erza to come round, her body battered and bruised. Skin cut to ribbons but mercifully still alive.

"Yeah, Wendy gave us an opening," Laxus smirked. "Thing is nothing but a statue now, and once that ice melts, that tunnel is coming down."

"That's good news at least," Makarov said with a small, watery smile that couldn't hide the weeks of stress and exhaustion. The distress at seeing his family in such a state.

"Anyone heard from Warren? He went silent on me half way into the fight," Laxus asked the group and in an instant their old Master's face was a picture of concern again. Gajeel frowned, muttering "same here," under his breath. Warren should have been back at the guild, out of harms way. Keeping communication open between them from a place of safety.

The relief they felt crumbled completely as movement in the treeline revealed a squadron of Knights marching toward them. A slim, younger looking man with brown hair and a crisp uniform at their head.

"No one move!" Their commander ordered with a soft voice that might have fooled them if not for the hard blue glare marking each and every mage from beneath a military haircut.

Makarov hadn't taken their last messenger very seriously. As crass as Gajeel had been with him, he'd been right to call him a _flunky._ But from the guild masters reaction now, the same couldn't be said about _this_ Knight.

"The creature is dead, the town is safe," Makarov announced with a calm expression and a resolved tone, attempting to de-escalate the situation before things got out of hand. Something that happened more than he could admit to liking when his guild was involved in something.

The Knight in charge seemed to glance around comically.

"I'm not here about _that_ Dragon Slayer," He snorted with a shrug. They all caught the emphasis he placed in his carefully crafted sentence. He gesticulated with his hands, opening them and welcoming their response.

Gajeel felt his stomach drop. What had Saggart said, reinforcements would be here on Friday to take them?

The man smiled almost gently.

"I'm happy to hear that you were able to take it down," He sighed. "Can we offer you any medical assistance?" He paused to ask, looking at their wounded.

From the audible breath in the group it seemed like someone was about to respond but Makarov held up his hand, halting them before they spoke. Gajeel found himself focused on the treeline behind the Knights. There was movement. Heartbeats and warm sweat just behind the brush. They weren't in any position to defend themselves if this went south.

There was a deathly silence that fell over everyone there.

 _"No,"_ Makarov seemed to snarl back. Rage twisting his features.

These were the Council Summoners. Gajeel knew only two of them by name. Knew the rest, mostly by reputation. These people were who you sent to take in mages for questioning. S- Class and above...And they were _used_ to dealing with resistance.

This likely would have been one of Barbara Dan's coworkers.

"I doubt you've brought enough men to take us all in," Makarov finally said when it seemed the pregnant silence would crush them. Break them under the weight of the severity of their predicament.

"And how would _you_ know what I brought?" The Knight seemed to bite out with obvious distain. Under the voice something like a tremor warbled his words. His mask slipped and pain, frustration, perhaps even remorse flashed briefly.

He pointed a gloved finger squarely at Gajeel, Laxus and Wendy. "We're just here for _them,"_ He intoned in a way that conveyed his reluctance to fight the rest. The commander made no mention of Natsu.

"Do you think they give out the title of wizard Saint in cereal boxes, _boy?"_ Makarov all but shouted. Agitation rising at the thought that his members were about to be taken, his grandson among them.

The soldiers with the Knight didn't move. Their expressions blank. Gajeel glanced to Bickslow, noting how he'd been silent since they appeared. Under the mask Gajeel was sure there'd be an intense look of focus on his face. A green glow filling his helmet.

When it became apparent that Makarov would not be cooperating, at some unknown signal, something hurdled out from the trees and struck Makarov square in the chest making him stagger. A second thump sounded and Gajeel stepped back. Surprise as he watched something ooze disgustingly off his bare chest, having hit him inches above Wendy's head. His eyes growing immediately heavy. He watched, disorientated as the same goop shot from the trees and straight into Bickslow's face. The man coughing and sputtering as he slumped to his knees.

At the mouth of the tunnel, in the clearing, snipers took them all down. Quickly and efficiently. One by one. Three shots needed before Mira toppled into the dirt, and a forth to halt her as she still managed to crawl, snarling toward them.

Laxus dodged several attempted shots and vanished, using the last of his magic quite likely, only to appear amidst the knights, intent on fighting them by hand if he had to, but the minute his feet touched ground he fell to his knees, all the rage and strength and will, sucked right out of him.

Gajeel stayed standing only moments before the weight of Wendy in his arms became too much and he dropped her, falling to his knees as she rolled a short distance away with a groan, only to catch a shot of what he now knew was a sleeping potion to the back of her bare shoulder. Professional. Methodical. Quick and coolly taken down.

They took no chances with their quarry.

Gajeel's final thoughts before he drifted into dreamless sleep were of a woman standing in an empty field of dead, poisoned earth, crying.

* * *

Notes

And we've hit the halfway mark. Thank you for all the reviews and support. I'm not gonna lie. This was pretty tough to finish.


	21. Chapter 20

Levy told herself to keep calm. To be quiet and wait. Feed into the image that the Council no doubt had of her. What with her shy, small, meek demeanor, her soft voice and wide, tear filled eyes. She spoke to herself, using comforting words invoking patience and the need to plot. Reminded herself that Gajeel and the others were okay. Confined to a Council cell, yes, but otherwise unharmed. They wouldn't be mistreated. The council were already treading very fine ice as it stood and it would be likely easy enough to appeal to the King and have him intervene on their behalf. The Magic Council would also probably find themselves in a great deal of trouble for this.

That of course was what Levy told herself, even as Jet was pulling her off the Knight she'd tackled, all while she yelled and cursed enough to make him blush. Levy felt herself watching this from above, no longer confined to her physical body, witnessing the spectacle as a small blue haired woman that barely resembled what she remembered looking like, knocked an official to the ground and pummelled him with hard fists, blood spraying as shock rippled about the room. When she'd been finally separated she came back to herself, a strange mixture of satisfaction and self-disgust as she found herself staring down at the Knight currently glued to the ruined wood floor and bleeding profusely from a very broken nose. The blood on her hands, no longer a source of revulsion or fear.

"I'm fine, Jet, I'm okay," She snarled, ripping her trembling arm free from his hands as she turned to stalk off, her limp still evident. She gripped the edge of the nearest table to steady herself, calm her breathing while Knights tried prying the target of her rage off the wood. She couldn't even remember what he'd said to her to push her over the edge. It seemed almost dreamlike. Her fingers throbbed as her nails bit into the wood. Levy was sure some of the blood on her hands was her own; the skin on her knuckles having split.

She stared at her hands like they belonged to someone else. Her body no longer her own. So much violence; she had to remind herself how much she abhorred it. Had to make herself remember that, because it was so easy an outlet. Levy felt genuinely surprised by how much it made her feel better. There was a relief in being able to release some of that darkness she felt soaking through her.

A brief stab of guilt washed down any pleasure she'd taken in attacking that man and she felt her breathing strain.

This wasn't who she wanted to be.

Jet appeared with ice from the bar wrapped in cloth and pressed it over her swelling fists, not bothering to ask her how they were. He could see them clear enough. Her bruised and bloody fingers. It would be a new nameless pain in a few days.

Did she even remember what it was like to wake up without something causing her one agony or another? An aching. Or burning. Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed it with force.

The anger Levy felt was entirely foreign. A curling, rippling beast in her chest, raging under her ribs for all the things she'd lost. For everything that had been taken away from her. Her peace of mind. The ability to pass a reflective surface without flinching at the disfigured woman mirroring her movements. A ghost of who she'd once been.

A small piece it seemed of her sanity.

But she truly hated them for taking Gajeel; taking the others. Genuine hatred for splitting her family. For even daring to. The tears she didn't shed had scorched a fire in her soul; pain had morphed into a dark desire she didn't think she'd ever felt before and it was frightening.

Levy pressed a hand into her ribs, an ache there at the thought of Gajeel and how much she missed him already. An almost physical pain at his noticeable absence. Another one.

He'd been the sole reason she'd held herself together as well as she had and it terrified her a little to imagine spending even a second without him.

After everything they'd done and suffered and sacrificed. None of this was fair. It wasn't just. Wasn't right. In her mind Gajeel seemed to whisper to her in that soothing timber of his, a ghost of a breath in her ear, reminding her that life simply didn't work like that. She was a Fairy Tail mage; she didn't need to be told how true that was.

The Knights had brought the others back to the guild to wake up from their sedation in familiar surroundings. Probably in the hopes of reducing the liklihood of retaliation. They'd seen that their injuries and wounds were bandaged and weren't life threatening. They'd gone to considerable effort to ensure they were okay... but Gajeel, Wendy and Laxus weren't with the others, and on top of it all, Makarov had yet to wake up. Some contraindication with the medication he took for his high blood pressure interacting with the potion. He'd likely be unconscious for days yet, according to an apocalyptic Porlyusica.

"We're _all_ angry. Believe me! But beating up some stupid grunt isn't going to bring any of them back," Jet kept his voice low as Lisanna took up Levy's vendetta against the Knights, one manicured finger poking sharply into the nearest white emblazoned chest. A foul look marring her normally sweet features.

"It won't fix this," It was wise and reasonable council that Jet offered her and yet it made Levy sick to her stomach to even admit that to herself.

"I know that, Jet. It's just... _it's_. .." Her voice wavered and his gaze softened as he pulled her into a hug.

Despite how much she wanted to, Levy couldn't find it in her to cry again, so she allowed herself some small comfort in the otherwise meaningless gesture, because try as he might, Jet just couldn't understand the true extent of it. Levy didn't want him to, either. Wouldn't wish that kind of suffering on anyone, least of all her closest friends. So she closed her eyes and let herself just breathe for a moment, held tightly.

They'd all lost something of themselves to this. They'd lost friends, family, a kind of innocence to the brutality of events, but the truth was that some in Fairy Tail had lost and sacrificed more than others. She didn't feel all that comfortable with Jet knowing just how much.

Across the table the Knight Lisanna was currently venting her anger and frustration on, snapped, and she found her arm suddenly in the man's painfully tight grasp. Irritation flashing across his face.

He looked like he was about to speak, a small unhappy sneer stretching his mouth into a thin line but a slender, firm hand on his elbow made him stiffen.

"Unless you'd like to find yourself missing some _fingers,_ I'd take your hands off my friend, pal, and get you and your friends outta here before Erza finds her feet," Cana's voice purred dangerously in his ear. The normal cheer on her usually less than sober face was absent as she stared him down. The muscles of her arm flexing, her grip on him close enough to pain than it made his teeth clench.

He let Lisanna go and turned sharply to the card mage, anger lighting his eyes, but another Knight stepped between them, breaking Cana's grip and pushing his friend back before a fight broke out.

 _"Don't!_ I know who her father is, let's go. No reason for us to be here anymore," His comrades hauled him out of reach, disappearing out into the darkness. Leaving the guild to their confusion and grief. An undercurrent of rage.

"Anyone know if they tagged Natsu?" A groggy Bickslow asked, still disorientated from the concoction, but there were shrugs all round. No one but the master had heard anything from him since he was ordered to leave town.

"Natsu is the least of our concerns, besides, he's got a knack for getting out of tight corners," Cana offered, trying to lift their spirits.

"You mean Lucy... " Someone muttered under their breath from the crowd and Cana snorted, cracking a grin that lightened the pressure in Levy's chest to see. It was something. Some tiny flicker of hope that this wasn't as bad as it seemed. They would fix this. Together.

The brunette smiled. "No more crying and feeling sorry for ourselves, got it?" She very almost looked at Levy, but didn't. "Mira and Erza are out for the count, master too, and Laxus is locked up somewhere probably tryin' to convince the Council to dry clean his shirts... so you guys just got me for the minute, and I'm not just gonna sit here feeling sorry for us."

"So, what do we do?" Droy spoke up, his face pale. "We can't go head to head with the Magic Council. They'd just disband us, or worse, label us a dark guild," He whimpered.

"We petition the King," Levy's voice surprised her. It's was confident. Firm. It didn't shake like the hands she now kept fisted at her sides. "We've done enough for this country that he owes us an audience at least," She bit out.

"Sure, when he's back," Jet grumbled, fumbling over something behind the bar and pulling out a sheet of newspaper, holding it up for them to see. The King and the Princess seated at an enormous ornate table. Both wearing smiles that just didn't seem to reach their eyes.

"They aren't here?" Levy voice was nothing more than a hiss.

"No, they're renegotiating a trade agreement with Stella, Joya and Bosco," Jet added. The article was buried at least ten pages into the paper. Completely overshadowed by speculation and talk about the murders. Interviews with the families. Sightings and rumour. Lost amid the fear and the panic of the last weeks. No one had cared a damn about a trade agreement when people had been dying in the streets.

Jet offered her the page to examine and she felt like screaming.

"Two months. They aren't due back for two months," Levy breathed, disbelief in her wide eyes.

"So we break 'em out!"

As one, every head swivelled to the door as Natsu dropped an unconscious Council Knight on his face, stepping over him like he were just luggage. Behind him a very muddy Lucy trudged in; a laughing Happy flitting overhead making faces at her and it could have been the mud or the Exceed or the ambush but Lucy's expression was murderous.

"What's up with you guys?" Natsu announced offhandedly with a grin, ignoring the groans from some of his guildmates. There was soot and dried blood caked in his hair and staining his face.

It was highly unlikely Natsu had given the situation enough consideration to wait for the Knights to leave before his grand entrance, forethought was one of his biggest weaknesses, but it definitely one of Lucy's strengths. She wouldn't have let him walk them into an avoidable fight in the guild. Or given their location away. Not if they could avoid it.

Levy didn't care that Lucy was beyond filthy, she practically tackled her, throwing her arms around her friend, shaking with relief.

"We thought the worst," Levy admitted with a breathless sob.

"Yeah, well, it was close," Lucy admitted with a crinkled brow at Natsu's subsequent snort. "They popped up out of no where," Lucy said with a sigh. "Told us they had our buddies and to come along quietly."

Levy could almost hear in her head how the rest of that conversation went.

"And what, flame brain use you as bait or something?" Gray found the nerve to snicker at the mess she was in as Natsu tackled him.

"No, _Aquarius,"_ Was all Lucy said turning to Levy. And it really required no more explanation than that. "Natsu got shot with some kinda slime but he burned it away before we found out what it did."

"He didn't miss out on anything, trust us," Bickslow groaned, head once again buried in his arms.

"Important thing was that they didn't nab you, too," Levy offered a tentative smile.

"They took Gajeel, Wendy and Laxus after the fight. We don't know where," Juvia interjected. She was calm. Focused. Her expression betrayed nothing of what she might have been feeling but the woman was always tricky to read.

"We know. That's why he's here," Lucy inclined her head to the man on the floor.

And that was a good a start as they could hope for.

Above Lucy's head, Happy was fluttering about miserably.

"I know they took Wendy, but where's Carla gone?" He whined.

Levy pursed her lips. Come to think of it, she hadn't remembered seeing the Exceed when they'd come back from the caves.

Levy hadn't seen Lily, either.

* * *

Gajeel woke up with a blinding, nauseating headache, vision swimming; the pain of it alone forced him to his side and drove the absent contents of his stomach up his throat. He tasted bile as he gagged. Legs and arms weak and aching from the fight.

 _"Gajeel?"_ A hushed voice whispered to him and something soft and warm patted him gently on the face. Careful and light and considerate. Blue was the first thing that came into focus and he might have been forgiven if he thought it was Levy for a second, but he quickly realised that it was actually Wendy that was kneeling over him, her hands lighting as the pain began fading.

Concern morphed rather immediately into a warm smile as she beamed at him. Satisfied that he was finally conscious.

" _Waste of magic._ Slap would've done the trick, too, " A voice that was very much Laxus' casual drawl said from out of sight and Gajeel could have laughed at Wendy's sudden frown as she looked off toward the source of Laxus' mocking voice.

"I'm beginning to understand why Mira complains about you so much," She said, sounding beyond exasperated. Who knew how long she'd been stuck dealing with a disgruntled Laxus, all the while waiting for him to wake up. Gajeel wouldn't wish that on anyone. Well... it was a small list.

"Whatever you're thinking her problem with me is, I can _guarantee_ you got it wrong," He fired back with a smug grin that Gajeel could only guess at the meaning behind.

He managed to make it to his feet and balked a little to find himself in what looked like the livingroom of run of the mill, cabin. Two sofas and coffee table. A large hearth. Open kitchen. The smell of rock and old blood still tickling his nose. That stench of death from the cave seemed to have permeated his entire being; right through his skin.

Outside the sun was shining in an almost picturesque blue sky. Serene he would have described it but for the anxiety he felt in his gut. Turning that too-familiar bile like a stew.

As he regained his senses he finally realised what about this was so wrong. What his nerves were pinching him to realise.

Nothing.

There... was nothing. No sounds beyond their own heart beats and breathing. No animals or birds. No sound of the wind rustling outside. No scents even. Wherever they were trapped was a barren, desolate, empty place. A place devoid of life.

This wasn't real.

"Where the _fuck_ are we?" Gajeel asked no one in particular, though a part of him was desperately hoping someone had an answer.

"Gotta assume it's somewhere the Council thinks we won't be able to cause trouble. There's running water for a shower," Laxus' hint was far fro. subtle as he glared at Gajeel, wrinkling his nose. "... And you can leave the cabin, but get too far away and the the world just stops," Laxus cast an appreciative eye around the place. "Reckon we're in a painting or photo or something," He added. "Some little pocket world we won't be able to burn or break."

"Like Cana's cards," Wendy said and the blonde nodded. Not looking particularly fussed about it all.

"Fuck!" Gajeel growled. A snarl building in his chest. He'd have almost preferred a cell to this. At least that was real. Not simply that he'd actually stand a chance of breaking out of it. No, this world was grating on him already. The very sky outside felt like it was waiting to cave in on them, choke them. Fake and nauseatingly saccharine.

"How long you think they can keep us here like this? With no charges against us?" Gajeel took a steadying breath. He wanted to yell that he hadn't done anything wrong, but truth as it was, it still felt like lies. Even after all this time. The fact that Laxus was so calm told him the man had probably already reached a similar conclusion as to the difficulties the Council faced if they wanted to keep them legally confined.

"Couldn't say. These kinds of holding cells are usually reserved for royalty or high brow criminals," Gajeel looked at him, far from flattered by that.

"Well don't I feel special..." He murmured as he ran his hands through his filthy hair before casually tapping a knuckle against the pane of glass in the window. He may as well have been hitting stone. While it might have looked like it, nothing here was as it appeared. Gajeel doubted it would smash but hit it with an iron fist anyway, just to make sure. There was a resounding thunk but not a crack.

"I don't like this place," Wendy said out loud. Wrapping her arms around her knees as she perched on the couch opposite Laxus. Anxiety and fear were rolling off her in waves. A noticeable stink in the absense of anything else.

Gajeel and Laxus had both seen the inside of their share of prison cells, but it was still a relatively new and unnerving experience for Wendy. She prided herself on her ability to walk the law abiding citizen line that the rest of them had never given a toss about in their own youth.

"How much space we got outside?" Gajeel asked her. They seemed to have woken some time before him. Had already explored their new prison rather thoroughly it seemed.

"About a hundred yards away you hit a wall. Like the edge of the world. Soooo freaky. Like we're trapped in a dollhouse," She shivered, hugging herself even tighter.

"So what? We just sit here and wait?" Gajeel asked, disbelief heavy in his tone. They could go mad in a place like this. They could end up as crazy as Braca.

Maybe that was the point. He let the thought drift into his head and find a perch. Why go to the trouble of taking them if they knew well they wouldn't be able to hold them? No doubt the others would be rallying to get them released. Truly, the only way to even begin to make a case for keeping them confined would be to prove they were an actual danger.

"Yeah, we calmly, quietly... wait!" Laxus enunciated and Gajeel huffed a breath.

"Fine, I get it," He said in resignation. Laxus had come to the same sobering thought. They were to behave.

"You doing okay, kid?" Gajeel finally asked, noting Wendy's increasing anxiety.

"I ...don't want to be here. It's like there's no air," She looked him square in the face, a sudden claustrophobia haunting her eyes. "We did _nothing_ wrong!" She affirmed, her face bleached of colour.

Gajeel shared a glance with Laxus, noting that he'd sensed the rising agitation. As funny as it would have seemed in any other pretext, Wendy was likely to be the first one to lose it in here. Cut off from the real world. A Dragon Slayer of the wind, taken away from the sky.

The girl jolted a little as Gajeel collapsed into the seat beside her and planted a meaty palm on her head, ruffling her hair enough to leave her pigtails comically lobsided.

"Ain't the first time we've been locked up," Gajeel said to her with a tiny grin.

"Doubt it'll be the last, either," Laxus added with a smirk.

Wendy was silently looking up at him, she'd heard snippets about Gajeel and Laxus' shady dealings before she'd joined Fairy Tail but nothing substantial. A lot of members seemed to still have it in their heads that she was too young to hear that kinda stuff, despite the fact of course that she was seventeen. Not exactly what you'd consider a child anymore.

"Before I had this symbol," Gajeel tapped the Fairy Tail brand on his arm lightly. "I'd another one. A pretty fuckin' bad one," He almost laughed at the way she scrunched up her face at his coarse language. "Yeah, I did a lot'a pretty fucked up things. Some of the people I hurt deserved it, most of 'em didn't. The first time I met the Shrimp I was nailin' her and Jet and Droy to that big oak in the square," He paused feeling Wendy literally jump under his arm. "If there's anyone that deserves to be locked up, probably me."

No one had ever told her about that. She looked up to stare at him in nothing short of abject, transparent horror. Her mouth and eyes wide.

"But... but, Levy?" He knew what she was about to say. The words unspoken, still ringing as loud as a bell in his head.

But you love her? But you love Levy? She seemed to hold herself back from crying out.

You could hide very little from another Dragon Slayer, least of all one as sharp as Wendy. She may have been young, still, but she wasn't a kid anymore. Despite his continuous teasing.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Talk about fuckin' up, huh?" Gajeel remarked with a quiet smile. Wendy's curiosity smothering her anxiety for the moment as she sat enraptured by the concept that the Gajeel she'd come to know, had once been such an individual.

"So what?" Laxus snorted, completely unimpressed. "I almost destroyed the town and killed everyone in Magnolia," He added only for Wendy to snort with laughter.

"I guess some things haven't changed all that much," she said with a smile, earning herself a pillow to the head. She caught it before it even made contact, grinning wolfishly back at him. Laxus was fast. Likely faster than she was... But maybe not for that much longer. Gajeel watched the blonde lightning mage frown. It seemed to be that catching thrown cushions was a quick way to aggravate some folk.

"I resent that," He pointed an accusing finger at her. "I'll have you know that I'm waaay less of an asshole these days," He said defensively, making Gajeel chortle.

"Yeah, right, keep dreamin'" He bit out sarcastically.

Things grew quiet between them as Wendy slumped in her seat, the humour fading from her eyes.

"You really think they're going to just let us go?" She quietly asked the room.

Gajeel and Laxus stayed silent. They didn't have the heart to tell her the truth they both knew. Could feel in their bones. If they wanted to keep them bad enough, the Council would come up with a valid reason.

Or they'd fabricate one.

Question was, what were they really doing there to begin with?

* * *

Notes

The site decided to make my life hell with the formatting on this one. That and the flu.

Huge thanks for all the reviews. I wonder if any of you have guessed where I'm going with this because it's all related. Fiorian Magic Council were painted to have a whole lot of authority and power in the series. And you know what they say about power and the people attracted to it.


	22. Chapter 21

At Laxus' insistence, Gajeel reluctantly showered; unhappy with the prospect of being left so exposed in such an oddly, cheerily hostile environment. The water that blasted down on him from the bathroom fixture was icy cold and made his already tired and cramping legs spasm painfully while the lingering scent of the harsh soap reminded him of Levy. Of the way her skin smelled after showering.

It would have made him smile stupidly if it didn't make him _ache_ inside instead. He felt her distance keenly. Like a fundamental piece of him had been cut out with a hot knife, now existing too far out of his increasingly desperate reach. He wanted - no, _needed_ her more at that precise moment than this very freedom. The smell of her. The feel. The remembered taste threatened his precariously wobbling sanity.

They _weren't_ mates...but Gajeel was finally starting to draw conclusions are to what it was about them together that left that door wide open. What it actually meant. It was an all consuming fire that beckoned him now; one forged in the shape of her, wearing her smile and luring him with the sound of her laughter. Gajeel loved her. _Deeply, deeply_ loved her.

But more than that, every part of _him,_ loved her. The cruel man he was that saw her indomitable will, the man he strived to be that had finally started to see a future with her. The good, the bad and the darkest of dark.

The Dragon Slayer loved her. The _Dragon._ It who craved nothing but the satisfaction - _satiation_ \- of its own desires would die to see her safe. Unharmed. As if she were already a crucial piece of it.

That part of him - that part of them _all_ that wasn't _exactly_ Human - the part that left him with fangs and slit-like pupils. The wild part - untamed and unwilling to apologise for it. That part of him loved her, too. Saw in her everything it knew Gajeel lacked. Recognised a partner that would make it stronger. A counterbalance and an equal.

"Would you hurry the fuck up in there?" The fist pounding on the door to their only bathroom startled him so much he slipped and cracked his head on the tile. In his mind he heard Levy's snort of laughter and Gajeel shook himself, finding it in himself to smile at the memory.

"Fuck off!" Gajeel shouted back after a moment of silence punctuated by another heavy thump. "You'd hours to use it before I woke up, so you can wait."

He heard Laxus growl from behind the door before stalking off. His heavy boots pounding on the floor. Almost a full day had passed and there was no sign of nightfall; the sun unmoving in the sky. Gajeel wasn't accustomed to sleeping in daylight and he reckoned that as nice as this place appeared on the surface, it was a place _designed_ to torture. Depriving you of all the small little things you wouldn't realise were actually important. Sleep. Freedom. Stimulous.

Drying off he washed his shirt and pants in the sink, rinsing them till the blood and muck and bone dust washed down the drain and he could tolerate the smell. Still wrapped in a towel he wandered outside, hoping the sun, fake as it was, had enough heat to dry them. There didn't seem to be any other way to do laundry.

He took a moment to stand beside the door and gaze out at their prison. Perfect and empty and maddening. It felt like they were in a windowless box. Sealed completely from the real world.

"I can help you with those?" Wendy offered, appearing at his side. Pointing to the still wet clothes hanging precariously over the fence.

"Knock yourself out, kid," Gajeel waved a hand in disinterest. It didn't matter for the minute whether they were wet or dry. There was too much weighing on his mind.

Eager for something to do she took the articles of clothing in her hands and forced a wind around them, through them, the material flapping in the artificially generated breeze.

"You ever feel like things might have been better if you were never a Dragon Slayer..." Gajeel bit his tongue, fumbling with his words. "... don't mean _better,_ but simpler? Easier?" He elaborated awkwardly, asking her her thoughts

Wendy paused to consider. It didn't seem like she took any offense to the question. Her eyes seemed distant. Thoughtful.

"I barely remember Grandine... "She finally admitted folding his shirt. "I was too young to remember _anything_ from before her," She looked him dead in the eye, her hands falling. "This is all I remember being. I've never been anything else," She said softly.

Wendy may as well have been born a Dragon Slayer. Maybe why she took to so many aspects with an ease her elders didn't.

Gajeel didn't have any _clear_ memories from before Metalicana. His early childhood was mostly a vague and foggy muddle of images and thoughts, but he knew he used to be different. Could _feel_ an otherness about those days.

"What happened to Braca..." He stared to say, absently untangling his still wet hair with his fingers. "... it could happen to all of us at some point and if it does, we can't make the same mistakes we did with him," He whispered, running his fingers through his hair in the absence of a brush.

"We _won't,"_ She said very quickly. Maybe too quickly. Without further thought or a moments hesitation. No further elaboration on what either of them supposed _were_ previous mistakes.

Gajeel could see how all of the Dragon Slayer mating problems of old played out. People fell out of love all the time. Grew apart. But once that Dragon in them sunk its teeth into something - s _omeone_ in their case - it wouldn't be letting go.

"Here!" Wendy held out his shirt and pants, bone dry and without a single crease. They looked as though they'd been professionally cleaned.

"The lack of a laundry room is probably the only reason Laxus hasn't murdered you yet," Gajeel said dryly, and Wendy smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. He could see her gaze flicker to the empty sky with longing.

"Sucks to be _you,_ then," She said with a snort before heading back inside.

Because, of course, if it was simply about being useful, then Gajeel was well and truly screwed.

He dressed there and then, shirking his towel and pulling on his pants. He was about to start pulling on his boots when the world quite literally shook around them. Like an earthquake. There were shouts inside from Wendy as non-stationary items rattled and fell from the shelves and cupboards. Their entire existence resonating inside their prison. And then it stopped. So sudden it almost put him on his ass.

The silence was just about deafening in the aftermath. Laxus and Wendy silently joining him outside as the perfect blue sky seemed to fracture like glass. Dark webs marring the sea of soft cloud and light.

Between the cracks - and Gajeel had to really squint to see it- on the other side it looked like there was a room. Gajeel could just about make out a desk. Red carpet. Shimmering gold.

"That look like an office to you guys?" He huffed to Laxus and Wendy.

"A spectacularly tacky one, yeah," Laxus mocked.

"Oh, I think it has charm."

They all stilled at the soft rasp of that strange voice and instantly silence descended again. Nothing but their own panicked heartbeats. It came from out of nothing- was everywhere.

"So quiet all of a sudden?" The man remarked with a humour none of them felt. "And here I was growing accustomed to the constant buzzing behind me all day," His tone growing sharp. Irritated. Exasperated.

"Another _joker,_ great," Gajeel muttered before a sharp cry of pain echoed around them and he almost fell forward, recognising the sound of his closest friend.

"LILY?" Gajeel shouted into the nothing. Calling his friend's name. Shock and anxiety dancing up his legs. His limbs rubbery.

"It seems even your _pets_ in Fairy Tail are formidable," The voice returned and Gajeel growled.

"That's my friend you're talkin' about. He ain't a fucking _pet,"_ The voice laughed at Gajeel's flash of temper.

"Yet he _fought_ like a wild _beast_ when they put a collar on him," The man laughed. The air in their prison rippled in recognition to its parent magic. Whoever this was, this was a cell of his making.

 _"Collar?"_ Gajeel felt his blood begin boiling but a hand on his shoulder stilled him. He looked to Laxus, the man shook his head at him.

"Yes, well, him and his little pink friend slunk in here like common domesticated pets. Can't have them getting _lost."_

Gajeel sucked in a breath, about to let loose a roar that would decimate their make believe world when Laxus grabbed him, turning him away from the horizon.

" _Stop it_. He's _trying_ to piss you off. Believe me, I know this dance, its one of my many talents. _Ignore him."_ He urged Gajeel.

 _"Ah,_ the ever sharp Laxus Dreyar. You have my condolences about your grandfather. Our retrieval team mourns any loss of life. Regardless of how _accidental_ it may be," The voice drawled.

"Believe me, if the old man survived me and my good for nothing father, then he'll survive a sleeping potion," Laxus said sounding calm though Gajeel saw his fists clench. The purpose of this seemed clear. Like a twisted game. Who could he make snap first. This intangible voice tormenting them. Gajeel longed to know the man's face. So when he visualised punching someone, he had a target.

"Wendy Marvell!" Her head snapped up, eyes wide at the sound of her name.

"Yes?"

"I was almost sure you didn't actually exist... _their_ breed is marked with violence and death. Always has been. And _you..."_ His tone made her visibly nervous. "... so _gentle._ I'm curious. We might need to crack you open and find out what makes you so different." He sounded disingenuous but the threat lingered regardless.

"Dragon's aren't violent monsters!" Wendy responded after some moments to collect herself. Banish the fear he'd invoked in her.

"Perhaps you could try and raise General Braca's lingering spirit from that stone corpse you left and you could say that to his face... see what he says, hmm?"

They were all silent at that. There was nothing they could retort with.

"What the hell do you really want with us?" Laxus interrupted. "Whatever you're tying to sell, I'm not buying it. So... what _exactly_ do you want?" He repeated.

"I want a volunteer," The man said openly.

"For what exactly?" Gajeel almost didn't want the answer.

"Just some tests." The voice answered casually. As if the short, ambiguous answer hadn't made all a three of them shudder as one. A slow, creeping trickle of terror.

Gajeel desperately prayed that they hadn't been looking closely enough at his life to notice Levy's existence, her pivotal role in it. Whatever was going on here, he didn't want her a part of.

"I'll volunteer if you let them go," Laxus breathed quietly and shock made Gajeel's jaw drop. He lost all ability to speak. Laxus wasn't exactly the self sacrificing kind of individual. That Laxus was offering himself up for Wendy and _his_ freedom made no sense to him.

"As much as it delights me to hear that, we've come to the conclusion already that you won't be able to help us, Mr Dreyar. We need a Dragon Slayer with more of an _organic_ link to the source of their power."

"Then let _me_ go!" Laxus sneered. His patience finally wearing thin.

"When we're _finished,"_ The voice purred and Gajeel's world was swallowed in darkness as the ground literally opened up and pulled him down. It only took a second. A brief moment where the world felt as though it were pressing in on him. Forcing its way into his mouth and up his nose. But it passed and fresh air hit his face. The biting cold of cuffs on his wrists immediately after.

The world came into view. The red floor of the office. White robed guards. Gold filigree over oak leaves spiraling around a wide sets of double doors.

An aged man with darkened skin and fine lines framing eyes the colour of steel stared passed him. Even as Knights were yanking on Gajeel's chains and forcing him back to his knees this man ignored the spectacle of it, retrieving what Gajeel saw was an enormous painting of a cottage, hanging it just behind his desk tutting as it refused to hang straight. The source of the voice, Gajeel realized from the timber.

Once satisfied that the painting, he dragged a chair before Gajeel and took a slow, stiff seat.

"Oh, the old knees don't agree with standing for too long," He sighed, slapping them with what would have otherwise been a disarming grin.

He noticed Gajeel's suspicious stare and he seemed to startle. As though suddenly remembering something important.

"Forgive me, my name is Perido Noc, the chairman of the Magic Council was required to attend the summit with the King and Princess so I've been left in charge here in his absence... to... _continue_ with ongoing projects," He waved his hand dismissively. "I apologise for the tone before, but we're looking for a particular temperament. Your friends are far too... reserved." He apologised.

Gajeel could barely speak, his stomach rolling violently. He was sure if he opened his mouth he'd be sick.

The man seemed to notice and looked sharply to the side.

"Cold water, _now,"_ He snapped his fingers impatiently and Gajeel saw a man approach with an expensive glass, taken from the side cabinet of the lavishly decorated office. He started at it, suddenly unable to think of anything but the liquid in the tumbler.

"It's just water, I promise you. Being pushed and pulled between dimensions is a far from pleasant experience. I'd know, do it far too much myself to really recommend it if I'm honest," He looked to the guard with the water who swallowed and took a few shaky, hesitant steps toward Gajeel who'd taken to staring at him like a predator eyeing a rabbit.

The man who'd introduced himself so simply held up a hand for the Knight to stop. The man himself breathing a relieved breath.

"Mr _Redfox,_ if you do happen to do anything _impolite..._ if you hurt any of my men, then I will empty out the water in that glass, have it filled with acid and poured down your small friend's throat. Am I making myself clear?" He asked, his voice darkening. Gajeel saw the edge he'd missed. Knew that Noc would do exactly as he promised.

Gajeel broke eye contact and when the glass was pressed against his lips he sipped carefully. The nausea subsiding almost the instant the water touched his stomach.

"Why're we actually here?" Gajeel asked, genuinely curious, torture didn't seem the goal and he wasn't certainly it that made him feel better or worse. Licking his lips, Gajeel wondered if there was going to be food to go along with the water.

"As I said, just some tests. Your Dragon Slayer friends are going to remain where they are for the moment. Can't have them causing problems. The Exceeds as they call themselves broke into a Council building and attempted to steal a valuable piece of artwork. They will remain in their cell. And they are lucky to be in such comfortable ones as well," He said, his tone quietly unnerving.

"Funny how you answered but you didn't _actually_ answer the fucking question I asked," Gajeel turned his head, his hair falling over his eyes a little as he pierced the man with an unimpressed, entirely unfooled stare.

"Do as you're told and if you cooperate, then, at the end you all can leave," The man said with a smile that Gajeel didn't believe for a second. Despite how much he wanted to.

Noc chuckled to himself.

"Oh, Mr Redfox, trust that or don't, but know that as much as I love that painting I won't hesitate to have it brought outside and burned. _With_ your comrades still inside. Or have the guards go down to the cells and put an arrow in the others," He stood and a guard removed the chair. He clasped his hands in front, thumbs fidgeting. Nerves, excitement. Not even Gajeel's nose could figure the difference at the minute.

At spear point Gajeel was prodded to his feet and herded at a leisurely pace behind Noc, who seemed in no rush at all to get where they where going.

Gajeel memorised what he could from the surroundings. Rooms and corridors, turns and any unique markers he could spot, trying to formulate a image of the Manor. A general layout that might help him get back to the office if he were free.

Marble and gilded gold, extravagant lush carpets of red and black that made him want to snap the neck of everyone involved; a wealth that seemed to spit in the face of Fiore's citizens. He'd known what it was like to have nothing, to not know where your next meal was coming from and this was too much when there was still so much poverty in Fiore. Even the rebuilt guild Hall - as enormous as it was - was simply decorated. Wood and stone. It hadn't lost a sense of humility in its growth.

Gajeel was led through a series of doors into a white room without windows. No furniture. No carpets. Cold marble under his bare feet. Not even a lacrima for light. Not that the room needed it; the place seemed to _glow,_ iridescent without any help.

He'd made it a few steps into the room when a screech sounded from behind him and he spun to see the Knights struggling with a young woman dressed in medical robes as she thrashed, clawing and biting at the gloves hands of the guards holding her, trying desperately to get to the door.

 _"Behave!"_ Noc said, striking her once, hard enough that the struggling ceased even the effort made him stumble off-balance. Allowing them to hurl her into the room where she skidded to a stop at its center with a groan.

Paranoid, Gajeel didn't move. Standing there, watching as they retreated out through the doorway only for a seamless block of white wall to fill it, blocking escape.

The anti magic cuffs on his wrists bit into his skin and he picked at the lock with a nail knowing straight away that he'd need the key to take it off.

He turned back to the young woman on her knees. Dirty under the sterile gown they'd dressed her in. Too thin. Her hair had been cut short and it sat in uneven, frayed and filthy locks. Like someone had taken a knife rather than a scissors to her.

Gajeel didn't speak immediately. Unsure what he could say. Still not entirely certain she wasn't some kind of plant. That she wasn't a part of this. Whatever _this_ was.

"Any idea what we're doing here?" He said, when he finally grew sick of the oppressive silence.

" _Fuck you_!" She turned to him snarling.

Gajeel felt his heart break. He knew that look. Knew the bitterness of desperation and futile hope. She wasn't there by choice he realised. Under the dirt she seemed to have a hard face. Solid jaw. Straight nose and green eyes. Her hair the colour of wet sand poking out at odd angles.

"I take it from the look of you, they ain't big on meal time?" He said with a snort, his stomach growling.

" _Hah ha,"_ She sneered at him, making a rude gesture that immediately softened him to her.

"Got a name?"

"Not for you, I don't!" Was her snorted reply.

Gajeel laughed. He saw so much of himself in her. He'd been exactly the same kinda little shit when he was a kid living on the streets. Kindness usually meant someone wanted something from you, so you learned to be wary of it.

And he'd had the privilege of having a dick in his pants.

Things weren't quite as straightforward for anyone that didn't.

"You been here long?" He asked.

"Long enough to know the only way I'm getting out is by runnin'," She graced him with an answer. Judging by her condition and treatment, he doubted she'd had much in the way of civil conversation.

"Agreed," Gajeel grumbled in support. "What the fuck they do to you?" He pressed a little more. She seemed to be reaching the same conclusion he had, that he wasn't working for the Council. He was as much a prisoner as she was.

"Took blood mostly.. but I don't think they found what they were looking for cause they dumped me down in the cells underneath and forgot I existed till today," She grit her teeth and looked away. "Most of them forgot, anyway."

"Why they want yer blood?"

She'd started shaking a little beneath the gown. Twisting herself to try and preserve as much modesty as she could while wearing what were essentially scraps of material. The room wasn't warm and she was clearly feeling it.

"Something about Dragon Slayer blood. And I told them, unless I was suddenly gonna be able to fill my belly with dirt or rock, what the fuck did I care who's great, great, _great_ fucking granddaughter I was," She studied him for a moment in silence. "Guess they won't be needing me anymore, now that they got the real thing," She concluded.

"Dragon Slayer's aren't _born._ Magic doesn't carry like that," Gajeel huffed.

"Yeah, well I said blood, _not_ magic," She corrected him, rubbing her thin arms. She looked so young underneath it all. Maybe even younger than Wendy.

Gajeel pondered it. Even with no access to Dragon Slayer magic he was still stronger than an average man. Still had the ability to see in the dark. Acute sense of smell. Could what they were after be _physical_ and not magical.

Her teeth were starting to chatter when he'd finally had enough of the sound. With a grunt he threw her his shirt.

"On loan, got it?" He pointed at her as she scrambled to pull the shirt over her head. It was only when she did he realised exactly how tall she was. His sleeves barely reached her wrists. She was taller than him, possibly by a half a foot at least. She probably wasn't even done growing yet. Still had that awkwardness about her body and how it moved. Unused to the ongoing changes. Quite possibly the tallest woman he'd ever seen.

She didn't thank him. That didn't mean he doubted her gratitude. He wouldn't have voiced it either and he was glad she didn't make a point of it. The feeling was clear on her face as she hugged herself tighter, colour returning to her lips, eyes softening. Pity in them. Pity for him, he realised oddly. Gajeel didn't want to dwell on why, right at that moment.

A low hiss. He heard it and stood so fast he almost fell over, even startling her to her feet. All long, lanky limbs and emaciated face.

"The _fuck?"_ She snarled as a mist appeared from the join of the wall and floor and crept across the ground toward them. It moved slow at first. Slithering in thick choking tendrils across the white marble surface, but it was growing, and as it did, those vines of cloud became a wave. An ocean of mist rising. The smell was rank. Like decay. Like this mist were a living breathing, rotting beast. Gajeel recoiled.

The woman on the other hand reached out her fingers to it, to the almost hypnotic rolling and flowing of it and brushed the tips of her fingers through the cloud.

It was instant; she inhaled sharply and stumbled back shaking, clutching her arm to her chest. Gajeel stood perplexed as she started shaking again staggering backwards until she hit his chest.

There was blood running down his shirt and when she pulled up her hand to look at it, bone was the only thing visible on the tips of those fingers. The flesh was gone. Dissolved like candy floss in the rain. She screamed at the sight, the pain finally kicking in as she trembled, collapsing into Gajeel as she lost the ability to stand on her own.

He caught her and sank to the ground with her, noticing that from the ceiling, more of it had started seeping through.

"Guess they don't want me as bad as you thought they did, huh?" He offered as she sobbed.

"My-my name is Char-Charlotte," She muttered, stuttering under her breath.

"Gajeel," He replied, gaze fixed on the billowing grey death flowing steadily toward them. Because if they were going to die together, they would want least know each others names.

Around the room more creases appeared leaking the stuff, as Gajeel did his best to shift them away; moving ahead of it, even as it relentlessly chased them. But it was like being followed down a dead end. Even if it stopped pouring into the room, it would still eventually touch them.

With no where to go Gajeel held onto the girl and clamped his eyes shut. Attempted to brace himself for the pain. Sweat erupted on his skin, running in streams. Cold, clammy, sickly sweat.

Charlotte started to scream first and he felt her thrash against him so violently that she broke free of his grip and he lost track of her. Liquid touched his legs, soaking in through the material and to be perfectly honest it could have been urine, even his own, and that wouldn't have surprised him in the least. Gajeel had never in his life been more terrified.

Yet, sitting there, waiting what seemed like an eternity for pain, he quickly realised it wouldn't be coming.

When he opened his eyes and waved a hand in front of his face, he could barely seeing the outline of the digits. He couldn't see the floor either. Couldn't see his body. A desperate and nauseating moment where he thought his legs might have melted away from him, but he could still feel them. He was still there, just hidden from sight.

The mist didn't burn him. He checked his wrists, the unlinked cuffs still cutting tightly into the skin, sealing away his magic.

They were looking for something in his blood. Something in the Dragon Slayer's body. He would have preferred he die if it told them that it wasn't there to be found. What worried Gajeel the most was the notion that _somehow,_ he'd actually passed. That perhaps, in a room nearby, people he already would gladly see dead were congratulating themselves.

There was a feeling of released pressure in the room and he watched the mist disappear slowly. At this point his skin had begun to burn a little. His eyes watering. Breathing becoming a little laboured.

He didn't move as he watched it all come into focus.

The blood and the gore that seemed everywhere, so stark against the whiteness, made him retch involuntarily.

Gajeel hadn't lost her. Charlotte had been right there in his arms when it hit and he was sitting in all that was left of her. The shirt he'd given her resting in the red and brown slime that remained between his legs and around him.

He clenched his shaking fists and focused himself on any kind of emotion that would drag him sanely through this. Revulsion wasn't strong enough a word for what he felt. Bile burned him on the inside as he heard her scream over and over again in the silence of his own laboured breathing.

What they'd done to her, wasn't even legal to do to animals. They were _less_ than livestock in this place.

It wasn't entirely certain if the three people they'd sent to clean up even expected him to be alive when they opened the door. Gajeel had no doubts that Charlotte hadn't been the first victim as the clean up crew entered with buckets and shovels and mops and halted to see him sitting there. From the chin down covered in blood.

Gajeel saw them and it really truly hit him. The anger and the disgust.

Magic or not, he collided with the initial two, a man and a woman, with enough force to propel them into the opposite wall, buckets of water drenching everything as they left the ground like rag dolls, tossed into the air. Gajeel felt like a monster because the first punch he landed struck so hard the man's neck broke, and the sound of the bone _crack_ was still drowned by the memory of that girls screams.

He'd have killed every human being in that building and he'd have felt nothing. Heard nothing but her dying cries. In a way he was grateful it ended before he could follow through, electricity suddenly coursing up his body and sending him toppling on his face in the wet rug.

Above him Noc stood with murderous scowl on his face, flanked by a much younger man of clear relation whose fingers crackled with white lightning. His expression pale. But it wasn't the dead Council men that he was watching. Eyes drawn to the blood and the gore in the adjacent room. Gajeel watched him crane his neck to look at the contents only to turn away, stagger a few steps and vomit.

Gajeel stared silently up at Noc, face twisted into fury.

"You murdered three of my people," The grey eyed man said quietly, swallowing thickly. Stunned almost that even without a flicker of magic Gajeel was still so lethal.

"Didn't... feel like enough," Gajeel grit out through clenched teeth. His jaw straining as the power still seemed to course through his muscles, making them twitch.

"I think we need to remind you of a few things, Mr Redfox," We're the last words spoken before Knights dragged Gajeel away.


	23. Chapter 22

Gajeel had experienced torture before. Porla took great measures to ensure that. Made sure all his guild members knew the feeling of pain; knew it as intimately as a lovers embrace.

Despite his former master's obvious eccentricity, he was very well aware that at Phantom, at _some_ point you were assuredly going to get caught doing something you weren't supposed to be doing; and since they had tenuous dealings with a lot of dark groups, Porla liked to be prepared for all eventualities.

Especially those scenarios where someone was sloppy and got themselves caught by people not adverse to pain as a reasonable method of questioning.

So Jose Porla made doubly sure that this prized fight dog, Gajeel was well accustomed to torture before setting him loose. He beat him himself. Used fire and knives and anti magic chains. Some of those scars he wore now with distain - once pride - hadn't come at the hands of his enemies. No he got them while he was being molded into a killer.

Only now did it occur to Gajeel just how much he'd been groomed from an early age for violence. To _withstand_ violence. It was entirely possible that his bloody, _bloody_ hands hadn't quite as much to do with being a Dragon Slayer as they had having been the employee of a murdering psychopath. He'd discovered at Fairy Tail that 'Dragon Slayer' didn't have to be synonymous with killer.

But Gajeel never once broke under Porla's torture or interrogation. The old bastard had never been able to break him down. A Dragon trait - Gajeel had always assumed it was anyway. Maybe growing up with Metalicana only to find himself alone on the streets to fend for himself had more to do with his attitude than the magic - the power _seared_ into his very soul.

Regardless of the source, that same defiance had made him a valuable asset. He'd never once flinched. Not even during the worst of his old master's machinations. Stoney eyes and a growl were all Porla managed to get out of him in the end.

But it was all a lie. Gajeel was now realising how ridiculously easy it would have been to reach him. To drive a fist into his dark core and wrench something pitiable free with an utterly silent cry. Porla had never _needed_ tools. Never needed fire or wicked knives to hurt Gajeel; _really_ injure him. To leave him with more than the superficial bruises and cuts he assured himself at the time would heal, not knowing that the real wounds that had been inflicted couldn't be seen.

Jose Porla had never needed a knife... _Just a pair of scissors_.

Gajeel fought to keep his mouth closed as a he twisted his head away from them. His expression far from stoic as they took him apart a locke of hair at a time. Slow and methodical. A sea of black cascading around him as he strained stiffly against the chains, nostrils flaring as he fought to breathe around the rag they'd stuffed between his bared teeth. He'd shouted and roared like a trapped, terrified beast. Enough to prompt a hasty gag.

The air touching his scalp was cold and foreign, and Gajeel's head felt light; every vibration that touched skin made him want to recoil - scream. Like the touch of some unwelcome stranger it made him flinch away. A violation of a kind he was altogether unfamiliar with.

With no mirror, he _felt_ them hack away at him; slicing so close to the skin that he was cut with each involuntary jerk from the cold scissors; blood ebbing freely down his shoulders.

For what seemed like the first time in his life he felt truly vulnerable - exposed and raw. Like a veil had been pulled from over him and he'd been left naked for the world - on display in the cruel light. His weaknesses visible for all to see.

 _Breathe._ _Just keep breathing._ A voice in his head whispered. Gajeel swallowed everything he was feeling and tried to find some place inside himself to withdraw.

"Time for your de-lousing, dog," One of them sneered, yanking hard on the chain that had been welded to a collar, locked tightly, almost to the point of choking, around his neck. He stood up and tried to keep his hands by his sides. If he touched his head, they'd know they'd gotten to him. Know that inside there was a sudden hole that he couldn't stop from filling with black, toxic hate.

He thought of Levy, and out of everything, that helped the most. Gajeel pictured the way her nose would crinkle while she read. How she'd flushed, flustered and awkward pinned beneath him under that stage. How he'd never wanted anyone more than her right in those illuminating moments.

The moments when he'd realised he loved her.

He was willing to die for her. And Gajeel knew that if he was, he should be willing to fight - to live for her, too.

There was suddenly a unique difficulty in avoiding reflective surfaces as a part of Gajeel seemed intent on seeking out a mirror; an almost masochistic need to view the extent of the damage. He wondered what Levy would say when - _if_ she saw it. He looked so different. Far removed from the man she remembered.

 _I'll still love you!_

He flinched at the voice he'd imagined in his ear. Levy's quiet, gentle lilt reassuring him. Gajeel summoned every ounce of internal strength and steadied himself.

"You _know,_ I kinda like it." He forced himself to say with difficulty; twisting a crooked smile on his bloodless lips. The act of repeating the lie made him feel a little better. Not much. But just enough.

"Next time maybe we cut a little more than hair," A sharp shove from behind punctuated those words and Gajeel laughed even as he rocked in his seat; a lack of food had left him weak.

"Kid, this _dog_ was raised by a fuckin' Dragon. Don't go expectin' much..." Gajeel schooled his face back into something close to apathy.

The rest of the forced humiliation proceeded in silence after they let him stand. They stripped him, took his clothes, made him scrub down and dress in medical robes. Some of them snickered between them at the novelty. Gajeel had a reputation, was legendary in some circles, and for a young soldier to suddenly have this power over him was clearly a heady experience. They didn't hesitate to exploit it.

"Dog know any tricks?" A man so young he barely looked sixteen prodded him back into his seat. Smooth faced, soft hands. Not the appearance of a soldier.

Gajeel turned his head slowly as they reattached the chains, meeting the boys eyes with fire.

"I know a _few..._ take these cuffs off and I'll _show you,"_ He said cheerily. Showing teeth in a grin that probably would have shattered a mirror; his eyes dark and his skin pale under the harsh white light. Gajeel had a cruel looking face. Hard and sharp edged beneath those bloodred eyes. His appearance had been softened a lot by hair he used to have. Without it, his was an image even _Gajeel_ knew he'd be crossing the street to avoid. Two of them moved back a step; the boy swallowed hard and said nothing more.

"What's going on here?" A voice from the door made them all stiffen and Gajeel watched warily as the younger version of Noc appeared, having regained much of the colour and poise from before. Though, the man's face was grave.

"Commander! We were just cleaning up the prisoner..."

"I wasn't aware he was a criminal," He drawled out, his eyes furious and burning holes in every Knight stupid enough to meet them. He seemed to lose his voice momentarily. "... Just who the _hell_ do you think the criminals _are_ in here?" He finally asked them. His face was strained.

No one answered him, every single one choosing to look away rather than meet that reality. The truth was like a cold jagged blade.

"Get out of my sight... All of you!" He snarled.

"But..."

 _"Now!"_

They fled. A snap of electricity crackling after them, chasing them away. Lightning not unlike Laxus' magic danced uncertainly between the Knight's gloved, twitching fingers.

Gajeel would have made a run for it but the chains were still tying him in place in his seat, and in his condition he doubted he'd get far.

A terse silence descended as the man seemed to pace. He stared in nothing short of mute horror at the hair and shredded clothing that had been unceremoniously swept to the side wall. A vicious reminder of the cruelty that the Council Knights were _supposed_ to be above.

"Apologies at this stage are rather meaningless," He muttered.

Gajeel only stared. Silent judgement barely restrained behind the rage that was brewing. The nerve, to even _mention_ apologies. As if anything short of total annihilation - destruction of _all_ that they were or held dear would balance the scales.

"I _knew_ he was killing people. I _knew..._ and I told myself... I _convinced_ myself it would be worth it. People die, they might as well die for _something,"_ He slid down in front of the wall, beside the door, facing Gajeel and rocking on the balls of his feet. Bringing himself to eye level. His dark hair and skin made every emotion shine brightly in his grey stare.

So much in this place reminded Gajeel of himself. This Knight included. Rolling violently behind his collected face was remorse, confusion, guilt... and to Gajeel's curiosity, _grief._

Gajeel dragged a long, slow breath of air through his nose and exhaled softly.

 _"Charlotte..."_ He announced to the man's stiff shock; understanding had hit the Dragon Slayer like a hammer as the light, fading traces of the dead woman prickled his nose. Her scent still clinging to the Knight. No fear or anxiety poisoning it.

Pieces clicked into place with Gajeel. When she'd mentioned being forgotten, she'd said 'almost'. _Someone_ had remembered her down in whatever pit they'd banished her to. It seemed like one Knight in particular, in this case

 _"Charlie and the rest._ She has a sister down there, too. Friends. There are dozens. There _were more,"_ The Knight ran a hand through his hair, squeezing his skull. He looked disgusted and repulsed by the unspoken thoughts and words locked inside.

"You don't like it, then _stop_ it _,"_ Gajeel rasped. His throat was parched. No food and too little water. He saw the man's hesitation and frowned.

That reluctance to do the right thing, knowing full well the evil in doing nothing, frustrated Gajeel. It was like staring at a reflection of himself. A lost soul. Knowing good from bad and sitting on the fence, letting it happen regardless. Partaking in things that were going to haunt him.

"No one leaves." The Knight's eyes were steel again. "Your friends trapped in that office, you have any idea how many paintings or photos or postcards are scattered around here?" He scrubbed at his face and stood, straightening his jacket. The moment of weakness passing quickly.

"He said he'd kill them if I caused trouble," Gajeel let the statement hang before adding "I wanna see them. Lily, too. You want me to play nice, I need to know you're gonna keep the other end of that."

The Knight didn't seem surprised by that request. Just... _sad._ Resigned.

"I think I can convince him to allow that, at least," He paused suddenly. "My uncle isn't a cruel man... but that's not to say he's a _good_ one. Don't give him a reason to hurt you- _them..._ he _will,"_ He warned Gajeel as if he spoke from experience. And as quick as he'd appeared he vanished, leaving Gajeel on his own. Struggling with his own thoughts. The hair they'd cut seemed to mock him for his uselessness. He couldn't even stop a haircut. He had no idea how he'd get out of there.

Pulling on the chains proved a fruitless waste of limited energy and Gajeel quickly gave up on it. Choosing instead to save his strength for more worthwhile ventures.

The guards that had been banished slunk back a half an hour after the Knight left with their tails between their legs, and quietly, altogether _politely,_ escorted Gajeel to his cell. Another boringly, blindingly white sterile room with a cot at one wall and a toilet and sink at the other. His eyes focused instantly on the tray of food sitting on his new bed. Mouth watering without any prompt. His stomach hurt with the need to eat. Gajeel hoped that he was alone in his hunger.

Unable to smell anything intentionally hazardous - because wilting salad didn't necessarily count - Gajeel ate quickly. He took a tentative sniff of the tray, which luckily turned out to be thinly press stainless steel and he set about devouring that too. Groaning with satisfaction over the simply luxury of a full belly.

While unable to actually utilise it, he could still feel the magic burn in his veins. Could feel it pressing up from under his skin, waiting to be released. Alone at last he finally ran his hands over his head and felt his fingers tremble as they met scalp. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the palms of his hands into his skull. Hoping to keep whatever was inside, right were it was. As much as it affected him, he couldn't let it show.

Memories of the mist he'd come into contact with were at the forefront of his thoughts. What it was and why it had killed his temporary cellmate in the manner that it had. _Charlotte._ He would remember her, though it hadn't seemed like she'd been the first to die. Her death had been expected.

What had appeared less likely had been his survival.

Sleep was fitful but it did come eventually, and as absent as she was in his waking hours, he saw Levy in his dreams. Her scent filling his senses. Her skin warm and soft. Words, sweet and comforting whispered in his ear as he dreamt them laying under the stars.

It surprised him. Gajeel had been expecting nightmares. He'd expected to be woken up by bloody scenes and remembered cries. He expected sweaty, fitful sleep. Clawing at himself. At the walls and chains and cuffs.

But all that never materialised, and when he woke up it was to something far from well rested, but where horror had been present in his mind before, there was the fading memory of her smile. Gajeel put his hand to his face. The skin warm where he dreamt her touching him. As alone as he was, she was still with him. Reminding him of all that he needed to fight for.

Gajeel heard them before the door opened. Muffled voices and shuffling feet in the hallway beyond. He could smell them. Fear and anxiety. Sweaty palms. Heart their shallow breaths and flitting heartbeats.

They were _afraid_ of him, and that was some kind of power he could still wield.

He stood and squared his shoulders. The harsh, tired lines of his face under the closely shaved scalp, cutting an intimidating figure. Gajeel had no doubt that he looked murderous. And in this situation there was good reason to appear the part.

The door opened and the tips of spears were the first things to appear, stopping Gajeel from getting too close; keeping a distance between him and a sombre and equally tired looking Noc. His nephew nowhere to be seen.

"Not sure if I wanna see your ugly mug right now," Gajeel snarled.

"Don't worry, I don't intend to be here longl other things to do, I simply wanted to thank you. That venom is lethal to all plants and animals. The only species we found were immune were the Wyvern that produce it and their more advanced Dragon cousins," He smiled at Gajeel and righteous fury burned in his veins at the sight. The nails of his hands biting into the skin of his palms so tightly that he was fully anticipating blood.

"You're making weapons.." Gajeel breathed roughly. "... this is so you can make a _weapon?"_

"I'm trying to _save lives_. The ones we sacrifice now will protect thousands. I do regret having to involve you and the others in this. I truly do, believe me. But it can't be helped. You've risked your lives for Fiore's safety in ithe past, this is no different. If you knew what was at stake, you'd likely volunteer."

"Well, that just proves how fuckin' little you know, doesn't it?" Gajeel snapped back. "And I don't think the people you got locked up here, volunteered for _shit,"_ He bared his teeth at the men flanking Noc. "Wonder if your men would have volunteered to die in that room like that girl did?"

Gajeel saw clear shame in a number of faces and knew that he'd hit his mark.

"I didn't think so either."

Noc checked his watch impatiently and turned on his heel while Gajeel's chains were put back on. He shivered. More sensitive to the change in temperature as he was led out into the much colder corridors.

A different path today led them to what looked like a hospital ward where they proceeded to take some blood from him. Asked him some basic questions about his diet. Sleeping patterns. Rudimentary curiosity regarding his fitness and habits. It seemed fairly innocuous... until they asked him if he was in any kind of a relationship and while his heart hammered like an anvil in his chest he forced out a firm 'no'. The two men performing the tests glanced between each other and Gajeel worried suddenly that his little lie wouldn't be believed. Terror that Levy would somehow be dragged in here hit him like a physical punch.

They moved on from the subject quickly and the relief Gajeel felt could have made him weep.

No one spoke to him except to follow their scripted processes. _Please sit here. Stand. We need you to answer some more questions_.

No one really _talked_ to him as a person. Didn't interact with him beyond the minimum required for his compliance. The occasional wary side glances thrown his way. Fear. Gajeel felt like _livestock. Dangerous_ livestock.

With no natural light it became impossible to determine how much time was passing or what time of day it was. The world was a sea of lacrima lit hallways and rooms. Stale air and the bitter stench of terror and sickness and blood.

They brought him back to his cell and the process repeated a few times over. Whatever they were doing with his blood they seemed to always need more. His arms permanently bruised. The needle marks healing more slowly each time they took from him.

Gajeel counted five cycles of repetitive testing before something different actually happened.

Running boots outside his cell. Unintelligible shouts in every direction. Electricity in the air as it seemed all hell was breaking loose outside. For a moment he wondered if Fairy Tail had finally found him - if this was indeed a rescue attempt- but the nephew of his captor appearing alone at his cell door changed that.

"I don't know if it's a Dragon Slayer mentality or a Fairy Tail one, but you're all nothing but trouble." His face was hard. Unflinching. To Gajeel's horror the building seemed to groan and shudder.

"What the _fuck_ was that?"

"The tornado." He rasped after a moment to catch his breath.

Gajeel could suddenly feel the vibrations climbing up his bare feet. His bones trembled. The iron in his body reverberated almost painfully. It wasn't some trick. He swallowed. Masking his concern.

"And why shoulda bit of wind outside upset me?" Gajeel asked finally.

"Because it's _not outside,"_ The Knight staggered forward. _"_ And if you don't help, your little friend is gonna bring the entire building down right on top of the cells below. _Do you understand?"_

It meant that if he didn't help them, then they were all going to die.

Gajeel looked around as cracks fissured through the walls of his cell and made a mental note to never cross Wendy in a fight. This wasn't _just_ magic. This was a natural disaster indoors.

The walls shook violently again. A roaring noise building in the distance and growing louder with each passing second. Like some approaching beast readying itself to devour them all. He had to make a choice and it wasn't as easy to help your enemies as it was your friends.

Gajeel considered leaving them to it but down in those cells Lily was still trapped. It this place came down, it would be on top of him.

And Gajeel wasn't about to just let his friend die like that. No matter _how much_ he wanted this place to collapse down around their heads.

* * *

Notes

A huge thank you to everyone reviewing. Things are going to eventually start getting better for Gajeel and company and don't worry. Levy is a comin' and she's gonna answer that question about whether its the Dragon Slayer or the Fairy Tail in them that causes trouble for the authorities.


	24. Chapter 23

There was warm, blinding sunlight streaming in through the window, harsh enough that the brightness on his face chased Gajeel from sleep. He blinked, taking in his surroundings. Content to find himself in bed, a warm, naked body pressed to his side. He smiled taking in the sight. A realisation that in this moment, everything was perfection. The soft new mattress beneath him and the blankets piled high, cocooning them together; the glorious light filtering through the blue hair sprawled across his shoulder, mixing with his own dark tresses. He felt himself sigh when the woman in his arms stirred, looking up at him through sleep filled eyes.

"Good morning," Levy beamed, stretching against him, a still dreamy grin on her face. He could feel every inch of her against him. The contact of her skin on his made him almost want to purr in satisfaction.

"Mornin' to you too," Gajeel blew a lock of her blue hair out of the way and kissed her on the temple. If there was a heaven for him, this was it. Her breath skirting his throat gave him goosebumps.

"Is it too late?" She asked in a quiet voice and Gajeel's eyes drifted out to the morning sun, still not yet high enough to be noon.

"I don't think so. We still have time," He muttered the words, his lips still brushing her skin. Reveling in the pulsing warmth underneath them. "There's still time," He found himself saying again. As if the words would become reality when he did. Time till what, he didn't know and for the moment it didn't seem to matter.

"Good, you just need to hold on a little longer. Just keep fighting," She was resting on her elbows now staring at him, the blankets now cold and itchy, but he still found himself staring at the sun beyond the window. "Can you do that for me, Gajeel?" The mattress had become hard as marble and a chill passed through him. Gajeel wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

"I don't remember gettin' a window in my bedroom," He said out loud, fragments of memory tugging at him. He was only vaguely aware that she was still speaking.

"Look at me!" Levy's voice became hurried. Serious. Strained.

Gajeel tore his gaze from the horizon to meet her face again. He felt the warmth of her hands as they cupped his cheeks.

 _"I'm coming for you!"_

Gajeel was wholly unprepared for the level of destruction that greeted him as the sunlight stinging his eyes dulled and he realized the agony he was in was the result of brutal winds tearing mercilessly at his skin. His raw, bare scalp was _searing_ as debris and grit battered the small nicks and cuts that had only just started to heal. Gajeel's skull throbbed, nausea turning his stomach and when he checked the source, he found blood seeping heavily from a cut on his temple.

The office where the painting had hung- his friends prison - was _gone. Not broken. Not destroyed. Gone._ The once lavish space was utterly and absolutely vacant. Empty. An entire segment of the surrounding building missing, exposing it to the environment. A circling vortex of wind obliterating everything it touched, stretching up into a dazzling blue, completely cloudless sky.

But worse than the decimation it had already inflicted was one fact; it seemed to _still_ be growing.

Gajeel could see why they would have been desperate enough to bother asking him for help. No soldiers. No weapons or tools. Not even magic was getting close enough to the core of it. Anyone that tried got hit with debris. Shards of glass the size of his fists and beams of torn wood screaming at velocity around the room.

He could feel the power emanating from inside the vortex as the painting began to come apart at its very seams. The frame in ruins, the edges of the canvas singed and torn. Gajeel felt it and knew that it was more than Wendy at work here. Within the spiral of death, energy crackled. Laxus' magic... and hers. A Dragon storm.

"It's a fuckin' _unison_ raid..." Gajeel could only sputter. He turned to the Knight, wide eyed. "Let them out. If you don't, you lose this place."

More than the building they were trapped in - because Gajeel wouldn't have given a damn if it burned to the ground - the magic his friends were wielding frightened him; death was more likely than freedom if the painting was destroyed with them still in it.

"You can't be serious?" The man narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

"This spell is only just buildin'... Look at what it's done so far!" Gajeel pointed, nearly shouting over the wind. He saw the Knight's hesitancy. The fear there. "They'll come out disorientated. Plenty of time to put some cuffs on them. _But you can't leave them in there_!" He grabbed the Knight's jacket aggressively, pulling him closer. Close enough to see the serious truth in Gajeel's blazing eyes. Gajeel should have known they'd lose it in there. Should have seen it in Wendy's anxious behaviour.

The purpose of these pocket universes were to keep people on ice so to speak, but _alive._ If anything happened they would need a way to free them. Gajeel had little doubt they could get them out, with or without Noc's assistance.

For the first brief, shining moment of joy and relief - sweeter than any actual victory - ths Knight put his hand in his jacket, to the inside pocket and mouthed something silently, too low for Gajeel to hear it over the raging winds.

It was instantaneous. The change. Immediately the hurricane was gone. Rubble falling to the ground and the sound of shouting as men dodged the larger pieces. The Manor _groaned_ in the dead silence that followed and Gajeel heard wooden frames continue to crack and splinter. Beams breaking. At the center of the carnage a groaning Laxus was visible, sprawled on his side. Quickly a man darted forward and managed to put some cuffs on him as he struggled to come round but as Gajeel looked, he noticed Wendy was nowhere to be seen.

She had healing and stamina magic. The ability to break curses. Resilience to enchantments. He felt a flicker of hope spark in his chest. _If Wendy was free._

 _"_ Found the girl, she's beat up, but alive."

Gajeel's stomach bottomed out. _No._

Three men were needed to move the table that had pinned her. And when they pulled Wendy out Gajeel was already moving toward her. He barely made it three steps before something caught him and he realised he'd been chained again - tied up without even noticing.

"Not so fast!" The lightning Knight growled. "She's safe. Nothing will happen to her."

Gajeel felt something inside him scream. A noise so vicious in his head he could have been making it aloud. It sounded so much like Charlotte's requiem.

Gajeel roared and every man there stopped breathing.

Pain lanced the Knights face.

"You have my _word..."_

"Did'ya give _her_ your word?" Gajeel stilled instantly, his cold question landing like a hammer to the man's ribs. Answer enough. He'd mentioned she had a sister and Gajeel wondered how close they were and if his warden had had the courage to tell her how Charlotte met her end - his own complacency in that.

"I can't release you. I am sorry." He looked away, unwilling to meet Gajeel's eyes. _Cowardice._ More than likely the girl's sister was still rotting somewhere underneath them, waiting for them to return her family to her. Not knowing they'd shovelled all that was left into buckets. Not even an identifiable smell left to grieve over.

"We stay together." Gajeel finally said. It wasn't a question or a request. This was as good as an order.

"I-I don't have orders against it," He stammered in reply, nodding his head to the men applying cuffs to Wendy - still attempting to get Laxus to this feet. The pair of them were weak, drained, hurt.

His chains rattled and a sharp tug told Gajeel it was time to go back. He cast a sidelong glance to the clear sky and made a silent promise to see it again.

* * *

They brought him and the others to a larger cell than before. One toilet. No beds. Gajeel didn't care. He wasn't alone, and it was impossible to express just how much he'd missed the company before reuniting with the others. Like the isolation and solitude he'd pushed out of his mind as he tried to cope, hit him with the full, miserable weight if it, almost the very moment he realised he wasn't alone.

Wendy's arm was broken and under Laxus' burgundy shirt the wound on his shoulder from their fight with the Dragon had split open and was bleeding again. Laxus must have hidden the injury because Gajeel knew Wendy wouldn't have even left a scar if she'd known about it. But like Gajeel, he was a stubborn fool.

"Rise and shine, dickhead," Gajeel grinned as he leaned over Laxus and slapped him once - twice for good measure.

The lightning mage came too with a roar and a solid fist to Gajeel's jaw before his eyes had actually opened fully. Though not even the shock or the pain of the hit was enough to wipe the smile from Gajeel's face as he lay prone and unmoving, his own throaty laughter rasping in his ears.

The confusion was clearing from Laxus's face as he slowly realised that the pale, stringy looking stranger was not a stranger at all.

"Ga-Ga _jeel_?" Laxus could scarcely believe his eyes. "What the fuck they do to you?"

Gajeel genuinely didn't know how to answer that. Where to even start. Absently his hand went to his naked head. Like some visible shame. As if it was his fault they'd done any of this to him to begin with. Laxus' eyes scanned him thoroughly before fixing on his own cuffs. Growling beneath his breath.

"When I get out of these, I will be personally reducing this place to nothing more than smoldering rubble," He moved and winced, putting his palm to his shoulder, a darkness creeping its way across his eyes as his hand came back stained red.

"You and me both," Gajeel snorted ripping a segment of his shirt to make a sling for Wendy's arm.

Laxus sat up and leaned forward, scrutizing Gajeel once more.

"Don't mind me saying it, Gajeel, but you've looked better."

"Yeah, well they ain't big on mealtimes," Gajeel's stomach answered him with a responding growl. One meal a day. And just enough to ensure he had the strength to walk. Little more.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Wendy shrieked, as she bolted upright and collided with Gajeel's chin. "OOOOWWWW!" She clutched her head with a whine as she fell back, hissing as she reached out with her broken arm.

"Welcome back, kid. You might have been better off unconscious," Gajeel half laughed even as she threw herself forward with a shrill cry of relief, reaching for him.

"They cut off your _hair,"_ She cried, sniffing into his shoulder, her one good arm wrapped around his neck and Gajeel felt himself returning the gesture - wrapping both of his around her. He'd never felt the bonds of family like he did right then. Not even with his father. These were his brothers and sisters. Bound by the magic they'd been given and forged in the blood they'd spilled and shed protecting each other. _This_ was Fairy Tail. This was what Jose Porla had tried to replicate in Phantom Lord. What he'd sought to destroy when his pale imitation failed to match up.

Gajeel had thought he was different. Too much the villain for the mushy stuff. But he knew now he'd just been so committed to keeping his distance, he'd failed to see how much they actually mattered to him.

 _You were never alone._ Levy's voice cooed softly in his ear and Gajeel felt a distant panic as he contemplated the very real possibility that he'd lost his mind somewhere along the way.

"Tell me somethin' I don't know...fuckin' cold as balls, " He breathed over the crown of Wendy's head and he smiled when she stifled a laugh.

Gajeel pulled back when she stilled, looking down at the cuffs on her slim wrists before grinning up at him. Laxus furrowing his brow at the look of pure delirious joy on her face.

She was smirking in a way that made Gajeel think they'd have had less recklessness with Natsu, if he'd been there instead of her.

"They have Lily and Carla in the cells underneath. As well as a lot of other people. Folks that don't deserve to be here. Whatever you want to do, we need to wait till we have a plan."

He didn't need to explain the concept of leverage to her.

"What is this place?" Laxus swallowed, it seemed even he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. They hadn't had any contact outside of the cabin since Gajeel was taken.

"A lab? Hospital, maybe. Definitely some kind of prison. They're lookin' for something in our blood. Dragon Slayer blood," The saliva in Gajeel's mouth seemed to instantly turn to molasis and when he tried to speak again, nothing further would come out. They were quietly, confusedly staring at him when his hands started to shake, clammy and weak. His heart suddenly beating out of control as the memories hit him like a heavy sack. Gajeel felt like he was going to be sick.

 _Everything will be okay,_ Levy's voice whispered to Gajeel again and he focused on that. Mercifully the shaking stopped. He drew in a slow breath, calming his heart rate.

Laxus and Wendy were both silently staring at him. He'd never seen two people look more concerned.

He shook his head.

"I'm fine... Just a lotta stuff on my mind I'd rather not be there, y'know?" He tried to deflect, though the shared look that passed silently between Wendy and Laxus spoke volumes about their lingering concerns. Gajeel knew he was a mess. But inside there was a voice that kept him going. It told him to be strong when he was weak. That he could do it. He was capable of surviving this. And it wasn't lost on him that it sounded like her. It sounded like Levy. The dream he'd had before came back to him. _I'm coming for you!_ She'd told him. But it wasn't real. Couldn't be anything more than a fantasy. He was losing it.

"How much of the facility have you seen?" Laxus asked, refocusing Gajeel. Team leadership and organisation were Freed's area of skill, but Laxus had to at least try put something together.

"Not much. I think they realised I was mapping it out," Gajeel admitted. Seating himself against the wall.

"But you've seen some of it?" Gajeel nodded. "Okay. Wendy, if you got those cuffs off, you think you could get them back on after?"

"No. I'm sorry..." But her face changed as she hesitated. "Hold on," She said, sucking in a breath and flexing the fingers at the end of her broken arm. "I'm gonna need you to help me with the other one, so watch."

Gajeel very almost got sick when she drew in a breath and popped the thumb of her left hand, shifting the bone inward just enough to manoeuvre the cuff down and slide it off. She reset the finger, eyes watering.

"You can do the same with the other one, I can heal myself," She held her right hand out to Gajeel. He wasn't completely sure why she picked him first; whether it was because she trusted him to be gentle or she figured he'd the most experience breaking little blue women.

Gajeel wasn't sure which one he would have preferred to believe.

He took her hand carefully even as Laxus snorted behind him. "Make sure you leave a hand there for her to heal, Gajeel."

"Yeah, yeah."

He made it quick. Perhaps too quick, because she shrieked at the unexpectedness of it, even as Gajeel apologised. Tears were slowly running down her cheeks as he worked the cuff slowly off. Even as she cried there was a grin pulling at the corners of her chapped lips.

Wendy flexed her fingers as magic poured through them - around them.

"So, you gonna let us in on this plan?" Laxus asked but he didn't need to. He felt it. Looking down at his own cuffs in disbelief.

"You can do that?"

"It's curse magic that makes them work to begin with," And it so happened that Wendy was a healer with more purification spells than most knew even existed.

She could neutralize their cuffs.

Gajeel bit through the manacles he was wearing with the savagery of a starved beast. Without their magic cancelling power, they were simple iron. Not even _good_ iron. He almost swallowed Wendy's whole - he almost _choked._

"You can leave mine. Just iron now anyway," Laxus narrowed one singular, suspicious eye Gajeel's way. He wasn't going to be letting him chew his off any time soon.

Gajeel held up his hands and watched with pleasure as the old cuffs he'd been wearing were replaced with iron of his own making. Identical in every way but the one that mattered. Wendy offered him her hands and he wrapped his fingers around her slender wrists, replacing the ones restraints she'd slipped out of. The ones he'd eaten.

"How's the arm?" Gajeel asked her, noting that there was still bruising.

"Better... but not too good," She smiled slyly.

"Okay!" Laxus rubbed his hands together. Sparks dancing at his fingers unbidden. "We've got an advantage," His lips stretched into a serpentine smile. "And they're about to have a problem."

* * *

 _Notes_

Next chapter is all Levy.

Maybe Gajeel is losing his mind... But that doesn't mean he's wrong.


	25. Chapter 24

The hastily scrawled note was barely legible. Juvia's meticulous handwriting obscured by beet juice and smudged tomato puree. The yellow parchment smelled of spirits and handling it left Levy's fingers sticky with residue. But it was news from their Dragon Slayer's prison. From Gajeel's. Juvia's normal spiralling, delicate loops had been sharpened in haste, crawling crookedly across the paper, but Levy would have hung it on a banner across her livingroom.

"They're _okay,_ but Juvia doesn't know for how long. Their testing has stopped but we maybe have days before Noc Strada's transport arrives back and he picks up where he left off."

"Plenty of ways to delay him. Block the road with some trees. I'm sure we could whip up a natural disaster?" Natsu said smiling, clenching a fist - an easy grin Levy wasn't comfortable with, showing a row of white, menacing teeth. Gray scoffed. Mumbling something about _Natsu_ being the disaster, alright.

 _Pfft,_ a wispy voice in Levy's ear, scoffed. _He'll blow your plans before you even see the damn Manor. You can't make any visible moves. Not till you're ready. Your enemy ain't stupid. Something happens - anything to make him suspect and this all goes up in smoke._

"It's too risky, Natsu," She conceded to the voices advice. "The only advantage we have is that they think they've won." Levy said. Freed nodded, head lifting from where he was hunched over a map of the estate, pale and tired.

"I agree. There are already too many uncertain factors, I'd rather not add anymore to the plan," He looked to Erza who said nothing. There were dark, deep rings under her eyes, her gaze harder than Gajeel's steel. Weeks, and Makarov had yet to wake up. The burden of leadership falling onto her shoulders in his absence; a heavy weight to carry. When Erza didn't object, or interrupt to add anything further, Freed continued. Worry for Laxus had left him as raw as Levy.

"Juvia says our best bet is entrance here," He tapped a space on the map. Gray leaning closer to look.

"The front door?" He asked Freed, crossing his arms. "You're kidding, right?"

"No. The walls of the estate are warded with alarms. The only way we get in without setting them off is the main entrance," Levy kept her voice even, worked to keep the edge of nervous fear from it. She had to be confident. If she didn't believe in the success of her mission, neither would anyone else. The plan had holes. Flaws. There was no denying that. It wasn't perfect but it was their best and currently only shot.

 _Gray's easy: Erza's on board and Juvia is in too deep for him to bow out now - don't worry, he'll do what you need him to. The only problem is Mira, and she is a big fuckin' problem, shortstack. Be careful what you tell her._

Gajeel's voice seemed so close Levy almost felt the warm air caress her earlobe. Could almost feel his hot breath. The tickle of his hair against the skin on her shoulders. When she didn't say anything more, Gray was left to consider. Unhappy or other wise, he shrugged.

"Fine, whatever, just tell me what we're doing," He grumbled back.

A shuddering sigh almost tumbled out as he agreed. Levy wiped the sweat soaked palms of her hands against her dress and hoped the darkness of the midnight coloured fabric hid the stains. Every set of eyes were on her.

"Hey!" The group were interrupted as Lucy pushed through the crowd, a parcel gripped in her right hand, knuckles white. She looked around. "Can you guys give us a minute?" She asked sweetly, locking eyes with Freed, a silent communication passing between them.

"We can go over the greater details after lunch. We'll meet back here at 2 o'clock. If you're late, we'll start without you," He announced, pausing until they'd all filed out of Makarov's office. Freed made sure he was the last to leave and placing a hand on Lucy's shoulder in thanks as he followed. Her family's business contacts were the only way they'd been able to pass messages back and forth with Juvia. Notes and information hidden in the supply wagons in and out of the estate. A venture undertaken at great risk to the merchants involved. They only agreed because Lucy pulled in every Heartfilia favour there was.

"This arrived in the post for the guild, with a note," Lucy glanced around, making sure no one was listening in.

"From who?" Levy asked, eyes wide eyeing the parcel. Taking in everything she could about it. The simplicity of the packaging. The light weigh. Lucy's skin was pale. Like all the colours she normally radiated had just seeped away into the darkened, shadowed lines of her face.

"It doesn't say…Levy, you should sit down," The gentleness - the careful way she said those last words, with pity and something akin to horror in her eyes, made Levy's gut clench painfully. A tight knot that almost choked the breath in her lungs. She tugged on the hem of her dress to stop her hands from shaking.

"What is - you've _seen_ what's inside?" She could barely get the words out.

Lucy nodded quickly and set it down; the covering had been hastily retied with string and Lucy's hands shook slightly undoing the knots.

Levy could have screamed. She almost did. A strangled noise, half hissed out as her jaw trembled, force of will clamping it shut before she could cry out. Her teeth clattered together as shock and fear and a thousand feelings gave way to white, burning, incandescent _rage_.

The tremor in her hands as they slipped between the strands of black hair hastily clumped together was the energy she wouldn't let herself voice. She closed her eyes and let her fingers tangle themselves in the mess of it. The feel and smell of him still saturating the gruesome gift. Someone had sent them Gajeel's _hair._ All of it, by the looks. Stands of roughly hewn hair of uneven length, dirty and dull.

"What did the note say?" She asked, keeping her eyes closed. Levy was not weak. But she doubted she'd the strength required to talk while actually looking at the evidence of Gajeel's torture so carefully wrapped and shipped to them. One or the other, but not both.

Lucy pulled a folded scrap of parchment from her back pocket and handed it to Levy who took utmost care to avoid the sight sprawled out on the desk.

 _Whatever you plan to do, do it soon!_ It read.

The letter was brief and wasn't signed. Not from Juvia.

"We have an ally inside, " Lucy read the situation. This was meant to hurry them. Convey urgency. "Does this change the plan?" She asked Levy who seemed to stall.

A shadowy figure was growing in her vision, rising from the floor in Gajeel's shape. A maneless head grinning at her from sunken eyes. The voice she'd been hearing now given new, horrible shape.

Lucy grew stiff watching Levy stare in mute torment at whatever was behind her. She turned quickly, seeing nothing. Levy's eyes still locked on the ghostly image.

Gajeel was smiling at her like none of it mattered.

 _"No._ We don't know who this is from or if they can help us. If they had any kind of authority, Gajeel and the others wouldn't still be locked up. The fact that they sent this to us, tells me they're not in a position to do anything else," She found herself unable to look away from this unfamiliar Gajeel. Thinned. Haunted. She wanted to ask him why he was smiling at her. Why - _how_ he could possibly look happy.

 _Because you got this. And maybe I'm imagining the look on a certain pricks face when he realises he's been beat by a mouthful of shrimp._

Gajeel's likeness winked mischievously at her and Levy laughed. Unable to help herself. Soon the laughter turned to tears and suddenly she was crying. Warm arms wrapped their way around her shoulders in comfort as Lucy pulled her to her.

"Still hearing him?" Lucy asked, holding Levy tight as sobs wracked her.

"I'm in love with an asshole," Levy muttered, torn somewhere in the middle between tears and grief and laughter.

"And Max couldn't find anything, huh?" Lucy was referring to the attempt the telepath made to discover the source of Gajeel's voice in her head. See if there was some way of using it.

"He said it was nothing. He said I was stressed. That I'm imagining it."

Lucy pulled back, breathing a hard sharp breath out her nose and wiping Levy's tears away with her sleeve.

"I don't think he looked hard enough," Lucy said with a genuine smile that was bright enough to dry up the tears still falling.

"I want to believe that," Levy quietly admitted. Because at least it meant a fragment of Gajeel still existed within reach. Carried with her - guiding her, steadying her. It was cool and rational when she felt anything but. Maybe it was a fiction to let herself believe what Lucy was implying, but that voice was all that had brought her safely though the darkness.

"You know," Lucy laughed. "... sometimes I hear this little voice in my head that sounds like Natsu?" She smirked. " _I'm huuuuungry, let's stop for food...Hey, what'ya mean pay? You're the one with the purse"_ Lucy whined, mocking Natsu.

Levy was laughing hysterically as they both made their way back out into the main hall. Lisanna tiredly, relentlessly cleaning and racing between tables. Mira quietly staffing the bar. Her normal dress gone in favor of pants and a fitted vest. Gloves on each hand now rising up her arms, passed the elbows.

The sight sobered Levy's laughter. Gajeel's words coming back to mind. _Be careful what you tell her._ Mira and Erza were not currently on speaking terms. Erza had preached caution, Mira would have dropped Natsu on the roof of the estate house and had him burn it down to the ground with everyone still inside. More supported Erza's tactics than hers. Perhaps sensing the danger in what Mira was preaching.

Trust. Levy knew she could trust that voice. Knew that it spoke the truth. As hard as that may have been to hear or believe. But underneath those gloves Levy knew that the black, demonlike scales of Mira's takeover form were growing. Her magic as out of control as her brothers had once been. Her soul, once so bright and unyielding was no longer unable to temper the darkness she carried.

Levy knew that their plans required subtlety, and while Mira was still powerful, power was useless if it couldn't be controlled.

 _Wouldn't say that, shorty, there's a time and a place for the desperate measures play_

"Maybe," She inadvertently said out loud.

"You say something?" Lucy asked.

"Just talking to myself," Levy found herself repeating, eyes still locked on Mira. As if staring would help her see through the material she knew concealed the visible evidence of her breaking spirit.

"Hey!" Lucy nudged her, offering a sandwich. Levy's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten since breakfast.

"Thank you. Really. I don't know what I'd be doing with you."

"You'd probably be storming your way into an enemy fortress demanding that the shiny Knights release your Dragon." Lucy shook her head. "This would make one hell of a story."

Levy laughed, mouth full of tuna mayo.

"In stories it's normally the other way round," She admitted between bites. Didn't the Knights normally rescue the damsel from the Dragon?

Lucy sat down with two glasses of juice for them, smoothing out the wrinkles in her top, her face contemplative.

"One thing is bothering me," She started. "Noc Strada. He's a soldier. From a family of soldiers. Hard reputation, sure, but not one for cruelty," Lucy took a sip of some juice. "It's unlikely he's doing this without orders from somewhere higher. Makes me wonder why. "

"I don't know," Perhaps that's what scared Levy the most. That this was really, truly officially sanctioned and that there was something worse they weren't seeing. Getting Gajeel and the others out - Levy had a sinking feeling that that wouldn't be the last of their problems.

"He's got a scary record though. I wonder what made them desperate enough to drag him out of retirement?" Lucy asked aloud.

Levy's eyes fell on Mira, a voice in her head, her own this time, whispering in her mind. Fear and desperation were capable of making nice people do questionable things. As good or as honest as the men and women of the magic council were, if pushed, she had no doubts they could commit any number of crimes. The path to the greater good was generally paved with the bones of the innocent and marked with all manner of evil. Levy didn't say anything to Lucy. They could only deal with one problem at a time. And their current concerns were big enough.

She felt like she was holding her breath underwater, waiting for him. Hoping she could hold out long enough.

"I'll be sure to ask Mr Strada when I meet him," Levy said flatly, darkly eyeing the parcel of Gajeel's hair.

* * *

Juvia secretly loved this side of the job - loved it more than any other aspect. She loved it more than being paid. Having spent so much of her childhood ignored, invisible, the ability to turn that into a profitable skill as an adult gave her no small measure of satisfaction. No one noticed her when she didn't wish to be noticed. It was easy. When you looked tired and listless, and you avoided eye contact, in a place like this you may as well have been part of the furniture for all the notice you recieved.

Walk around with a mop in your hands and people actively avoided you. Looked away. Didn't strike up conversation.

But as good as she'd become as staying off the radar, she was still unable to get where she ultimately wanted to be. What irritated her currently was that regardless of her skill, she'd still been unable to get to close enough to Gajeel or the others to speak to them. To reassure him that help was coming. There were too many guards. Too much surveillance. She'd been given strict instructions to remain undetected. The only time Juvia seen him had been at a distance. An almost unrecognisable version of Gajeel being led down the hall, chained like an animal, an empty and pained scowl on his face. His _hair_. Gajeel's hair was _gone._ Juvia had never seen Gajeel have so much as a trim before. The others had faired better. They looked at least like they'd been fed.

She'd completed her primary mission - they had their Intel - but Juvia wasn't leaving until she spoke with Gajeel. Found the others. Found Carla and Lily. She wouldn't leave them to think they'd been abandoned in this place.

Juvia wouldn't go back to the guild before she told Gajeel how much he was missed. Not just by her and Levy - who was figuratively and given time, literally moving heaven and earth to get to him. Jet and Droy. Natsu. Even Gajeel's landlady had come by asking about him. His presence in the building had quieted down the otherwise rowdy neighbours. Juvia wanted to tell them all how much they were missed. How frazzled Freed had become without Laxus there. Mira steadily unravelling without him there to talk her down. How Cheila had rented a room in Magnolia since Wendy's abduction and the winds had been blowing uncharacteristically strong since. Their family were all waiting for them to come home.

Juvia had tried mapping out the water waste system, looking for a route to their cells but with the size of the estate house and the old plumbing, she'd gotten lost more than once and was still no closer to her friends.

She knew that Lily and Carla were also confined here, and figuring they wouldn't be as closely watched, she decided to change tactic and seek them out instead, a little ashamed she hadn't thought to consider them first. Though, Gajeel and the others were the target of the experiments the guards couldn't quite shut up about, the rest weren't currently at risk of medical dissection.

In a borrowed uniform that felt just a little too tight in the hips, Juvia made her way to the back stairs. She'd been expecting guards but there were none. Just a dark staircase down into oblivion.

The smell was the first thing she noticed. Sweat and urine. The odour drifting up the steps to assault her nose.

"No wonder there are no guards."

The stench was old and she knew enough to know that Exceeds didn't sweat. She sucked in a breath to steel herself against whatever she might find in the bowels below the house. Whatever horror they'd decided was too terrible to house above ground with the rest of their evils. Whatever Demons they'd chosen to bury.

"Did my son make it home? You said you'd tell me. Are you letting us go?"

"My Annabel?! You took her last week but you never brought her back!"

"Maybe they let her go like my son?"

"You're an idiot if you think they let any of them go!"

The voices clammered for Juvia's attention as the stairway opened into a long corridor of cells. Thin hands stretched out from between the bars. Dirty, desperate faces seeking her out. Men and women. Shouting at her, pleading, some of them arguing between themselves. The way between the cells was so narrow she felt their fingertips scrap the shoulders of her borrowed uniform as she passed.

"Juvia?" A finally familiar voice cried out. "Gajeel and the others? Are they okay?" Lily pleaded with her. She glanced in the cell where she found Carla sleeping, curled up in a tight ball in the corner. Lily's face was taut. Even requiring less sleep, it seemed he'd reached his limit of wakefulness.

"For the moment. I haven't been able to get close enough to speak with him but they all appear to be alive," She offered him a paltry smile as comfort. Lily and Carla both looked bloodied and dirty like the rest of the prisoners. At the sound of her voice Carla started to rise.

"And Wendy?" She asked her.

Juvia grinned.

"Tore a hole the size of the guild Hall in the building upstairs. No doubt there are already regrets about taking her and Laxus," The relief was palpable. Lily's body seemed to sag. "Are either of you hurt?" Juvia asked them.

"Nothing a bath and my sword won't fix," Lily grinned, even in his pocketsize form there was a terrifying glint in his eye. Carla sneered.

"I've seen horrendous things here. I'd rather it burn."

Others, hearing snippets of their conversations started calling out to each other.

"She's not with the others?"

"Is she here to save us? Please, tell me we can leave?"

Juvia looked around - there were maybe a dozen empty cells, ten occupied with a variety of different people. Some old and some young, men and women. As much as she wanted to, Juvia knew that in pits like this, there were always those that couldn't be trusted. People so broken they wouldn't hesitate to sell out their fellow inmates if it meant that tomorrow was slightly less of a hell than today.

"The others are coming," She whispered. "I'll work on getting you a key, and when we move, you move with us," She nodded, keeping her head down as she made her way back to the stairs, doing her best to avoid all eye contact lest she crack under the weight of these people's suffering.

Hairs rose on her neck as she heard it, freezing on the spot. Footsteps coming down the steps made her heart jump up her throat and Juvia hesitated before flattening herself against the wall.

The Knight stopped dead in his tracks as he emerged into the light and spotted her, seemingly standing guard.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Sir!" She replicated a perfect salute. Back impossiblly stiff. "I heard a noise and came down to check."

Steel grey eyes surveyed her with suspicion.

"And the second guard?" He asked, glancing up and down the corridor. Noting her solitude.

Juvia didn't fake the warble in her voice when she replied with "Second?" She was genuinely that caught off-guard to realise that she'd forgotten every sentry in the place was always assigned a partner when on patrol.

The Knight sighed, throwing his hands up and Juvia felt her stomach bottom out.

"They sent a greenhorn down here... on their own... _again?"_ He bit out.

"They said it was a one person job, Sir," She played along, looking convincingly sheepish.

The man wiped a hand over his eyes. Exhaustion evident in the dark circles under his otherwise piercing stare.

"Nothing is ever a one person job. Nothing legitimate," He heaved a breath. "I'll take over. You're relieved, Lieutenant..." He paused squinting in the darkness at the name embroidered on her jacket. He paused noticing the name. His eyes darting across the letters. "Lieutenant Mordi-Mordinee?" He said out loud, tasting the word on his tongue. "Forgive me," He suddenly laughed. "Did I pronounce that right?"

Juvia spared a small smile back.

 _"No._ But I appreciate the effort." She dodged his attempt to catch her out in the glaring lie. _It_ was Icebergian. Juvia didn't necessarily look like _she_ was, however. Pale skin. Blue hair. Dark, sharp eyes.

"I should really make it a priority to at least learn the names of my Knights. You should go, enjoy the rest of your night. Nothing is happening down here. Not any time soon," He waved her off but as a relieved Juvia turned to leave she spotted his expression morph. Eyes narrowing. She sensed it. As good as she was, something had given her away. Maybe her manner. Perhaps her voice. Her appearance. But something had broken the illusion.

He knew.

There was little time for second-guessing herself and Juvia quickly made the decision to act. Turning sharply she dropped low and hit him with a jet of water that stuck the Knight square in the guts and sent him careening the length of the passageway, skittering along the stone like a pebble. He hit the far end with a yelp that quietened the mutterings of the dungeon immediately.

There was now a timer on her discovery. When officers start disappearing, the countdown generally begins to when someone eventually notices.

Juvia had been careless.

She paced cautiously back to him and checked his pulse and injuries - he'd live. Bruised and sore. Sprawled out he looked younger than she'd have guessed. Little more than a boy in a man's uniform.

Juvia took him by an ankle and dragged him into the nearest empty cell, chaining him to the wall, hoping the restraints were the magic cancelling kind and that no one would notice his absence in the morning. She patted him down and a jingle in his jacket brought a half smile to her face.

Locking him in, she tossed the keys in through the bars of Lily and Carla's cell.

"How often do the guards come down here?"

"Once in the evening with food. One meal a day," Lily remarked. She likely had less time before someone noticed he was missing. But she had some time at least.

"Would you like me to pass on any messages to Gajeel and the others?"

Pantherlily growled low, teeth glinting in the dim light.

Carla answered her instead. A crusty wound on her head more visible as she crept forward. Dried blood staining her light coloured fur.

 _"To the last stone!"_


	26. Chapter 25

The weight of the absent cuffs was noticeable. Even though to an onlooker Gajeel's wrists were still bound in iron, it wasn't quite the same. The oppressive feel of them. The sensation of being crushed - smothered. Of Gajeel's entire being ground beneath some intangible boot. That was gone. And his own iron may as well have been paper for all he noticed.

Gajeel cautiously slipped under the crease of the cell door and revelled in how he was suddenly free to go where he chose. The sudden freedom of the shadows were as as much a balm as Levy's voice, still whispering in his ear. It enveloped him, soothing the ache of his empty stomach. Giving him clarity. Sharpening his senses. Moving through shadows was like walking parallel to the world - separated by a pane of darkened glass you alone could move through at will. Across the wall of shadow, he could see the Knights - move around them, over and under, still keeping that barrier between. Gajeel couldn't be sure if he laughed, the sounds in this place were muffled, static noise and it was difficult to tell his own voice from theirs.

Provided Gajeel didn't venture far from the cells and was back when the guards did the rounds, the estate house was open for him to explore. In the dead of night, no one noticed the shadow creeping across the floors and up the gold leafed plasterwork. That cold, spine tingling sensation that prickled hairs on the Knights necks, warning them of the danger lurking at their feet went unnoticed. All the while Gajeel moved inches from them. Their good instincts - the ones that had any - were easily and casually played off as nerves. The building was old and their tasks were far from noble. It was understandable that they would be jittery. A trick of the eyes in the gloom was nothing out of the ordinary.

Gajeel's primary goal had actually been to find Lily and assess how many people they'd imprisonment in the cells below, but whether by chance or otherwise - he _was_ in a permanent state of hunger - Gajeel found the enormous kitchens first. The house itself looked to have been a wealthy family home at one point and beneath the sweat and stench of death and cleaning agents, a faint scent of young children still lingered.

The kitchen itself had been made to accommodate dozens. Designed to feed large parties of guests. A walk in pantry as big as his bedroom at the far end, opposite a gas stove with nine cooking rings. The only two guards inside the room were seated across from each other at the table in the centre, an empty bottle of vodka between them. They were unconscious. Drooling. A string of acrid vomit stained the front of one uniform.

Whatever got them through the day. Gajeel had seen enough here not to pass too much judgement if the guards wanted to drink themselves to death. Two less he'd need to feel guilty for killing later.

He downright assaulted the pantry - unable to control himself. Cheeses and breads and cakes. Washing it down with a pint of what gloriously tasted like ginger beer and several knives from the cutlery drawer. He ate till he felt sick. Till he regretted his gluttony and felt like crawling to the nearest toilet.

He audibly groaned, rubbing his now stretched stomach but the unconscious Knights barely stirred and Gajeel knew that when the state of the pantry was discovered, they'd likely be blamed. There was a satisfaction in knowing that. Some little petty vengeance. It was altogether doubtful they'd remember enough to even be able to even deny it. Perfect scapegoats. Fortune could be a tricky thing but right now he wasn't complaining. Gajeel wrapped some food up in what was left of his torn shirt and left the way he came in, sinking into shadow, stomach aching.

Full and without the distraction, he followed his nose in search of the stairs down, until the stench of faeces could guide him the rest of the way to Lily. As he neared closer, Gajeel picked up the smell of his friends blood. Old and dried and half masked by another abominable odor that made his nose ache with its potency. Death and decay. Rot. Disease. Neglect.

Appearing from the stairwell and slipping along the floor he counted the prisoners and was relieved that there were fewer than he'd been lead to believe, but at the same time, he was worried by the number of empty cells. While there was barely a dozen here, he could identify fifty separate prisons that had been occupied. Repeatedly in some cases. This place had seen hundreds. If not more than that.

"Gajeel?"

Pantherlily's sense of smell was not as sensitive as his but it was tuned finely enough to detect him coming.

Gajeel paused and almost hit the bars on his way as he used the shadows to enter Lily's cell. He pulled the Exceed into a hug almost before he'd fully formed - Lily reigning in a half shriek with shock. Surprise at the hug or Gajeel's appearance, he couldn't be certain. Gajeel's heart hammered against his ribs and for a moment he felt his eyes water, tears threatening to fall. Lily was in his more compact form and Gajeel only released him from his near crushing grip when the Exceed coughed out a breathless laugh.

"You alright?" Gajeel pulled back and looked him over. Lily narrowing his eyes, shaking his head.

"Apparently better than you," Carla interjected, crossing her arms - the fur stained dark with dirt. "And here I thought you couldn't _possibly_ look more intimidating, Gajeel."

Her sharp comment made him smile. The casual jab reminded him of better times. Simpler times. When Gajeel was the villain and people disliked and mistrusted him. When he could convince himself he was better than their opinions of him. Convinced himself he didn't care.

"Like you can get high and mighty about appearances," Gajeel snorted. "You look and smell like you washed in a toilet."

Carla kicked a soiled blanket from the ground at her feet and sent it sailing his direction. Lily snatched it from the air before it made contact.

"I think we should perhaps save all of that for our captors," He said with the look of someone dealing with unruly toddlers and expectantly exasperated. He rubbed at his temples, wincing when his paw touched something tender.

"You're hurt?" Gajeel reached out to him but Lily batted his hand away.

"We all are _,_ Gajeel," His voice was a hiss. "What have they done to you, anyway?" He hovered at eye level, close enough to rub a soft paw back and forth over Gajeel's bare scalp.

"Nothin' I don't intend on payin' back... with interest," and that was Gajeel's current truth. The thing that kept him sane. _Levy. Vengeance. Freedom._ For himself. For the people here that they'd hurt and murdered. For his family. Though he still hadn't decided if justice - if retribution was shaving them all bald and dumping them naked somewhere or slitting every throat he found walking the halls in a white and black uniform.

"Has Juvia been to see you?" Lily asked him and Gajeel's expression must have given him his answer because the Dragon Slayer's jaw just dropped.

"She's _here?"_ Gajeel asked. A tightening in his chest to imagine that this could all be over soon. If Juvia was inside, there was more than hope. There was an actual plan.

"Yes, feeding information out to the others. Check next door," Lily pointed to the right and Gajeel wordlessly followed his direction, moving quietly through the bars.

"Gonna give me a name this time?" Gajeel snarled at the Knight currently chained to the wall. His pristine uniform was stained and his lips were chapped and bloody. He certainly looked like he'd been acquainted with Juvia alright.

"Going to give me the keys to this cell?"

The man visibly, violently recoiled at the sight of Gajeel disappear and re-emerge from the darkness like a red eyed demon, mere feet from him and laughing like the devil himself.

"Eventually," Gajeel crossed his arms, smirking and leaning back against the bars he'd passed through. "I expect you'll be seeing the inside of another cell soon enough, though."

The Knight huffed.

"I'm a soldier - a Knight. I do what I'm told," His excuses sounded all too familiar to Gajeel who simply stood there, unimpressed.

"Easy to convince yourself when someone else is givin' the orders," Gajeel shrugged. He approached the Knight sinking down to eye level. A mirror of the first conversation they had. The positions of power reversed. "But eventually you stop noticing all the ways they abuse that kinda loyalty. It changes yah... And not for the better."

Gajeel watched that settle over the man. Watched him swallow. Saliva and truth catching in his throat as it bobbed.

"We don't have a choice," He said, parroting the words he'd obviously had drilled into him.

Gajeel snarled, his fist forming a blade that quickly found itself at the man's collar, pressing dangerously against the skin. As sharp as a scalpel.

"I could kill you," He didn't need to press hard before a steady trickle of blood bubbled up against the blades edge. Lily called his name from behind but Gajeel's eyes never left the Knight's. "It would be easy. Quick. I can even tell you I've done it enough times to promise it would be painless, too."

The face looking up at him with wide eyes was suddenly that of a boy, frozen in terror. Unsure of what was right and real, unsure of his role in all this. Gajeel took a deep breath and pulled the blade back. Wiggling his fingers as the iron disappeared again.

"The cuffs aren't working?" The voice at Gajeel's feet whispered almost brokenly.

Gajeel smiled letting him see the metal disappear and reform.

"The cuffs were cheap flavourless pig iron and you should get yourself a better blacksmith," He chuckled. "The pantry forks tasted better."

Out in the hall, Carla had taken his small parcel of supplies and was distributing the contents through the bars of the other cells. The occupants where thanking her. Some of them audibly weeping.

 _"Why do all this?_ What the hell is so important that you need to make those kinds of weapons?" Charlotte's image burned in the back of his mind and Gajeel's stomach rolled, now filled with food threatening to come back up. He clenched his hands, resisting the urge to wipe them against his pants. Wipe away the absent blood he could still feel coating them. A thought occurred to him. And he left the Knight where he lay, not waiting for an answer. Moving out into the hall.

"Charlie's sister?" He called out once. Twice. And then a hand came shooting out between the bars, a heavily manacled wrist clanging noisily off the iron as fingers waved frantically for his attention.

Gajeel paused at the cell door, looking in at a face that made him stagger. He felt the world move under his feet before a large hand steadied him. Lily holding him upright as he stared and stared at the girl - at Charlotte's almost identical twin.

She signed some words to Gajeel but he didn't need to know the language to understand their meaning and he shook his head solemnly.

"She's dead. I'm sorry."

The girl collapsed to her knees. Like a puppet that had just had their strings cut. Brutal grief hitting her like a punch. They watched on as she slapped herself in the face, perhaps hoping this was a nightmare she could wake herself up from. Saw her pull at her hair and open her mouth in silent scream.

Kneeling on the dirty floor of her cell, the girl covered her face with thin blistered hands and wept silently. For the sister she'd lost and the hope that seemed to have been murdered along with her. Gajeel held out his hand to Lily who passed him the keys Juvia had taken.

The cell door creaked open and gently, slowly, Gajeel took off her chains. There was a moment when she looked up at him, tear stained face and he saw a familiar darkness in her eyes. Something born of suffering and hatred. Of despair. She stood and before he could protest, took the keys out of his hands and raced out passed him with a speed he legitimately found shocking for her emaciated condition. He heard her begin to unlock the cell doors. Could pick out the cries of relief as chains rattled and fell.

"Juvia said to stay put until help arrived. Is this really wise, Gajeel?" Lily whispered to him. Keeping his voice low.

"I ain't gonna tell them to get back in their cells and wait for rescue." He said.

"Understandable, I suppose," Though Gajeel could see Lily was uncomfortable with the deviation to plan.

Back outside the girl had halted outside the Knights cell as the others raced for the staircase, too happy to be free to care that they would likely be caught before getting to so much as an open window. Guilt hit him when he realised that they were going to be the distraction to their escape.

Gajeel cursed when the girl, snarling with anger, hands shaking unlocked the Knight's door, pulling so hard he wouldn't have been shocked if she pulled it from its hinges. She disappeared inside with a hateful urgency that made Gajeel think she'd kill him. Throttle him with her bare, bones fingers.

All three rushed after her but despite their fears they found her standing there, just out of reach. Glaring at him. Her hands moved frantically.

"I'm sorry. I really am," The man was sobbing. "I didn't think they'd pick her out. They normally... they're usually the same. They usually pick same weight and height. Men with men. Women with women," He stammered out. The girl threw herself forward, fists flying, hitting him. Her whole body was trembling when she composed herself again, repeating the same few words over and over. Carla hissed catching it where Gajeel and Lily didn't.

"You're a _wretch,"_ She sneered at the Knight. "He told her he would free them, and that he wanted to _marry_ her." Carla announced to them. "Brought them extra food and a clean blanket every now and then and called it love."

At a glance, Gajeel could ascertain that regardless of what else was going to happen, a marriage was not on the table. If it ever had been.

"It was all I could do! I love you, Elle. I would have helped your sister if I'd known, " He was speaking to the girl now. It was difficult to tell her age and though Gajeel asked Charlie, she may have lied to him. There was so much bone and skin and hate on the sisters face now that it made it too difficult to guess. She could have been anything from fifteen to twenty and Gajeel wouldn't have known which.

Lily snarled.

"Is there no one in this place with any _decency._ And you preached duty and honor? I commanded armies. I led the same battalion for nearly three hundred years. You have no _concept_ of honor, because a soldiers duty is always to the people. And they do not prey on the vulnerable prisoners in their care. I know good men burn that would _cities_ before they'd leave loved ones to _this!"_

"You don't understand. That's why we're doing this. For the people. To _protect_ them."

"That girl died screaming," Elle visibly flinched. "Who does that help? How does making that poison help anyone?" Gajeel roared. The man went quiet.

The Knight paused, his brow furrowed.

"That's poison is black wyvern venom... and its been around for _centuries._ We aren't making it. We're looking for a way to immunise people _from_ it, before they use it again," He whispered, his voice steady.

"Use it _again?"_

Gajeel's senses warned him before the Knight spoke. A silent caution that the next words he was going to hear would not be easy ones. Maybe it was the tightness in the boys face. The quiver of his lips as he drew in a breath - steeling himself.

"The council..." He began. "... the King, the Princess. They were assassinated three months ago at the international summit."

Gajeel stuttered. His mind going blank. Eyes blinking furiously as he struggled to understand. Comprehend. As he tried to believe. Their pictures were in the papers just a few weeks ago at the negotiating table.

"You're lying!" But Gajeel's hearing told him that it was the truth. At least as far as the Knight believed.

"It's all easily fabricated...and if the Kingdom new the truth, they'd panic. And there needs to be order."

"How is this even a Kingdom when there ain't even a King?" Gajeel asked, wiping his mouth.

"The country does function without him. Do you want me to explain how governments work?" The Knight bit out, but Gajeel only snarled. He wasn't in the mood to be patronized.

"Panic?" Lily finally uttered, rolling the word around. "Do you not mean _riot?_ Anger is normally how people respond to assassinations."

The man went very quiet for a moment.

"Riots will be the least of their problems, when they find out that Bosco is planning to exterminate the lot of them, " The Knight finally admitted.

Everyone went deathly still at that. Another segment of information that they'd been missing. One more piece to an increasingly terrible picture puzzle. No one spoke. Till Carla.

"She says your name is Percival," She was looking at Elle who seemed to have become as still as a statue. He nodded and they saw Carla's eyes twitch in restraint. Choosing her words. "You are going to tell us everything you know. Everything that's happening. Everything that's planned. And if you don't," She enunciated slowly. "Gajeel is going to kill you, and if _he's_ had a change of heart due to your little fantastically ludicrous tale of forbidden love, then I will do it _myself."_ She took hold of the front of Percival's jacket. Claws digging deep. "Do we understand each other?"

Elle clicked her fingers and Carla turned. There was a moment of communication between the two that made Gajeel sad he hadn't Levy's flare for languages. Carla turned back, both her and Charlie's sister were grinning maliciously.

Percival Noc had understood whatever it was they'd said and he stilled. Going suddenly deathly pale.

* * *

 _Notes_

I just want to thank everyone reviewing this and following. Your comments mean a lot to me. They really do. I hesitate some times when I go to post. Hopefully you're still interested.


	27. Chapter 26

Good news in Gajeel's opinion was rarely groundbreaking. It was usually just a relieved breath. A slow exhale. A brief respite from total disaster. That heavy limbed sensation as you collapsed into your seat, boneless to realise the worst hadn't happened. Not _yet._

Good news was only the absent of hail when the stormy winds shifted overhead.

This - this wasn't good news. There was no relief, only a tight twisting in his gut that left him nauseous. Gajeel of course supposed it could have been worse. There was _always_ worse. Jose Porla could have risen from the dead and seized the Kingdom. The sky could have been bleeding down fire on them. As far as he knew, Levy was also still safe. So yes, things weren't hellish.

Though, that wasn't to say that things weren't going to get there, and _soon-_ he knew they'd yet to see rock bottom in all of this and the mere thought sent his mind racing.

Gajeel was sitting against the wall, sweaty hands resting on his knees while shouts and screams sounded from upstairs in the corridors as the prisoners they'd released unleashed havoc on the midnight shift. Bored, half sleeping guards caught unsuspecting and off kilter in the crosshairs of more than a dozen angry captives. From the explosions and thunderous sounds of destruction, some appeared to have been mages of skill. Yet unbroken by their confinement. Intent on returning every cruelty they'd suffered. Every hurt.

But none of that was important right then. It no longer mattered if they escaped. If _any_ of them made it outside. What was waiting out in the world for their peaceful little country was a fate more terrible than this laboratory. Gajeel may have been the subject of diabolical experimentation, his life put at risk every day as a result, but it was Levy who was in danger out there, now.

"I don't get it, Bosco is fuckin' huge and they ain't short of resources," Gajeel was still trying to make himself believe all this - he could tell Percival Noc wasn't lying, but there hadn't been a war in centuries. There hadn't been any reason to fight.

"Someone in government was reckless. Made some deal with some of their neighbours they hadn't a hope of honouring. They had their sights set on Stella originally, but Iceberg have strong trade with them. If Bosco invade, they'd come to their defense."

The back of Gajeel's skull sounded louder than his groan as his head fell back against the cell wall with a noisy bang.

"So _what?_ Fiore is easy pickings?" He rubbed angrily at his face. Politics was never his area.

"What about our other neighbour?" Carla asked, Lily nodding while Elle watched them thoughtfully.

"Yes, I wasn't aware Fiore's relationship with Seven was so bad that they would let an adjoining Kingdom commit genocide?" Lily's teeth were bared. "Or that Bosco would stoop to this at all. Was it not them that offered us assistance in our research with Braca?"

Gajeel scoffed.

"Yeah, and now we know why they had a stock of those Dragon Slayer books and why the magic council were so fuckin' eager to get their hands on them," Difficulty with the neighbouring Countries were no secret. Getting a permit for travel to any of the provinces in Seven were virtually impossible if you didn't already have friends or contacts there. And there was a reason Fiore's King had personally attended the Boscan held trade negotiations; relations had been stretched so thin it seemed all they could do to bring them to the table.

The truth echoed like a hammer; Fiore was a rich peninsula with a tiny Navy, a fractured council with its own selfish agendas and two neighbours that had grown to resent them.

Easy pickings indeed.

Percival swallowed at the silent intensity of the looks thrown his way. They could see him attempt to meet Elle's eyes but she only glared back. Her face empty of anything but revulsion and hate.

"We knew Bosco had large stocks of venom...but we didn't think they'd actually use it considering they have no Dragon Slayers themselves. And if you aren't a wyvern, a dragon or a first generation Dragon Slayer, it's beyond lethal. They killed some of their own when they released it at that meeting."

"So... that's why your uncle is now in charge. Why he's been able to get away with this? They basically took out almost our entire government in one fell fucking swoop and no one knows we've been left with _him?"_

The Knight nodded gravely.

"How do they think they'll get away with this?" Carla gasped. Stumped by the magnitude of it. The brass, craven evil of it all.

"I expect they'll claim something like plague or disease. Explain their forces on Fiorian soil as foreign aid to a sick country. Explain the questionable deaths as containment. No one would know. Our ships are blockaded and we have no way to get the truth out right now, " He added, swallowing the lump in his throat.

As much as Gajeel hated what had been done here, as much as he _despised_ them, _dreamt_ about beating their jailer to death with his bare, bloody fists.. . he recognised desperation. And they had been made _very_ desperate it seemed.

Pericival pulled at his hair. "There are only two other members of the magic council still alive and neither of them would dare go against my uncle without an alternative. So far we have nothing and he's been able to make enough progress that they believe he's going to be able to pull this off."

Gajeel growled low. He'd seen first hand their progress and it was non-existent.

"Fuckin' idiots."

There was a huff from Carla. "For once, I'm in agreement. If all this is true, and I am still utterly unconvinced it is, even if you could make a vaccine you'd never be able to distribute it in time. The death toll would be catastrophic," She was shaking her head. "We need to get Wendy and get the hell out of here. Warn people! "

Lily glanced up as a deafening crack sounded above them. Dust billowing down around their heads as an inch wide crack ripped through the stone along the entire length of the cell ceiling in a jagged line - corner to corner.

As they turned to leave Elle caught Carla's arm, gesturing to the Knight who looked like he'd committed some grave act of betrayal and was presently waiting for a lightning strike to split the sky and kill him where he sat.

"No. We should leave him!" Carla protested.

This was a discussion that unfortunately had to happen. To leave him or bring him. He was still a Knight, and that was a risk. He'd also seen Juvia who hopefully was still off the radar.

"If we do leave him," Lily looked up at the weakening stone above them. "... it's as sure a death sentence as anything."

"I'm not entirely sure I care," Carla spat. "He's culpable in this. It doesn't matter what the situation is, this is vile. It's evil."

"We bring him," Gajeel quieted the discussion. "Leverage," He turned to Percival and gave him a pitiless smile, yanking on the chain affixed to his wrists, pulling the other end from the wall with ease and dragging him to his feet.

It was logic. Sound. Faultless. Something none of them could argue with. But there was also something in Gajeel that wasn't willing to leave him to die. He was young, and while still responsible for his own actions, there was a dynamic in all this that Gajeel could see as a manipulating factor that resonated with him. A family of soldiers. A close relative leading the charge. It was never going to be an easy thing turn your back on that. Gajeel wasn't going to start addressing the relationship he'd apparently developed with Charlie's quiet sister. Gajeel wasn't going to get involved in that. But he knew that he'd been in a similar place before.

"Fine, but the cuffs stay on him."

"No one is arguing against that, Carla." Lily added with a sigh.

"Except _me!"_ The Knight grit out before Elle kicked him in the shin making him yelp, eyes watering slightly as he was pulled passed her. Gajeel laughed at that, and then again at their height differences. Elle was every inch her sister. Putting her _several_ taller than Percival. Yeah, he was certain that particular nest of snakes was best left to untangle on its own. Elle seemed very capable of making her own assessments.

"So Juvia, or Laxus and Wendy first?" Lily asked Gajeel quietly, the others trailing behind, glaring rather intensely at each other for varying reasons.

 _Don't worry about Juvia. Laxus and Wendy are still in their cell. And Juvia is free._ Levy whispered to him and to Gajeel's shock, Lily paused momentarily.

"Your _skin!"_ The Exceed hissed.

A strange sort of panic hit Gajeel as the glint of worry in Lily's eyes.

"What about it?"

"You had iron scales on your neck, but they were different!" Lily pointed at the spot. "Right there," but when Gajeel touched it there was nothing but skin.

"Different, how?" He managed with a steady voice.

"Ridged. Raised. Not deformed, just not your typical scales," Lily narrowed an eye at him. "Where you using your magic?"

The concern was obvious. The worry that in Gajeel's time there they'd done something to him. Images flashing of a decaying, dying Braca, consumed by his own stone.

"Not intentionally." Gajeel muttered after a pause, somewhat embarrassed.

Elle appeared and from the questioning look that followed her words, Gajeel assumed she asked something.

He heard Levy's fluttering laugh. _She asked if we were lost already_.

"Again!" Lily blanched, touching his cheek this time and his paw felt cold against it. The typical sensation Gajeel experienced through his iron scales. Now that the magic cuffs were no more, they seemed to have developed a mind of their own.

He brushed Lily off with a shrug. He knew now that the voice, Levy's voice, wasn't just a figment of his strained mind. Something had happened. Like a light had been switched on inside him. Understanding illuminated the darkened corners of his thoughts.

 _I was expecting it to be kinkier._

Though, Gajeel was honestly expecting to have at least realised _something._

* * *

Levy had everything so meticulously planned out.

Every movement of the guards. Every delivery. Every visit. She watched and waited. Sleeplessly obsessing over the comings and goings from the estate. Teams of guild members taking shifts to track who and what went in. Everything that came out. No detail too small being fed back to her and Freed while the organised the optimum time to strike.

And then it was after four in the morning and the manor was suddenly on fire and everyone, Lucy included, was staring at Natsu. Barely concealed accusation in their eyes as he was was left to hold up his hands and glare right back at them.

"I was right here the whole time. Don't blame this on me!"

Levy looked at Freed and groaned pitiably. Gajeel's image was laughing behind him as the other script mage frowned miserably back at her.

"Nothing ever really seems to go to plan once Dragon Slayers are involved," Freed muttered without enthusiasm or humour. A sentiment born of many years of experience. Many years of best laid plans going to mulch on account of Laxus's temper.

"Hey! I don't see a problem here," Natsu was smiling. "Manor on fire means panicky, distracted guards. Gates open. We've also got a valid excuse for going in if they try an' nail us with something." He tapped his chin.

Freed sighed, clocking his head to the side, looking for Levy's input. They both hated how much Natsu wasn't wrong about this.

"We won't get another opportunity as good... it looks like it's spreading slow and with Natsu, we've minimal risk. If Erza says so, we go now," Levy nodded to him as he stepped outside and reappeared a moment later with a sure nod, but she felt her stomach tie itself in knots. The plan was a quiet infiltration. It was most certaintly not to storm in there, knocking skulls. They should have been slipping in with the morning deliveries, at the change over of the guards. One of the few times the gates were open during the day. This was not the plan.

 _You gotta take opportunities as they come up. Place wasn't on fire when you set those plans, shorty._

"I don't like it. We don't know what's in there waiting for us," She said it out loud, drawing Freed's eye, no longer caring if people were staring.

 _I'm in there. And I'm waitin' for yah._

Levy smiled to herself and Freed cleared his throat with a concerned frown.

"Original teams still hold. The building is on fire so try save as many as you can. This is still a rescue mission," His nostrils flared a little. "Just a little... _larger_ than originally planned."

Levy bent at the waist and rubbed roughly at her stiff leg. The muscles still occasionally cramping. The line of her scars still visible on the surface of her leggings - peeking over her boots.

"Will you be able for this?" Freed asked. He was the only member of Fairy Tail that would choose to voice the question out loud. Levy had developed a reputation for cutting off anyone else. Freed was one of the few who'd get a considered answer.

"Yes. I'm able," She said. And he simply nodded without argument. Maybe the only reason he got away with his inquiry was because he didn't debate her. He trusted Levy to make her own decisions.

He let a brief, restrained smile slip as he turned away.

"One of many more things we've failed to give you credit for," A pause then. "You two really aren't that different."

Levy could have laughed at that. Gajeel would have torn that building down with his teeth to get her out, and here she was sitting on her hands, making stupid plans they weren't even using.

 _And I woulda been wrong._

She looked up. His face appeared inches from hers and she would have loved nothing more than to be able to reach out and touch him. Given anything - she wanted him to be real so badly

"What are you?" Her voice didn't shake as she expected it to. Fully prepared for a conclusion where she was insane. Where the stress and horror and loss had broken her.

A shaven headed Gajeel merely smiled smugly at her, one corner of his mouth twisting up before the apparitions vanished like smoke.

"Lucy was right. You're too irritating to be a figment of my imagination," Levy snorted, heading out.

Her leg was stiff by the time she made it to the manor, only just about managing a light jog as others raced ahead. Natsu and Erza had clearly already made their entrance, the wide gates had been cut cleaning from their hinges, the supposedly raging fire all but extinguished as guild members continued to pull Knights and prisoners out onto the grass. The men and women covered in soot and coughing their lung up from the smoke.

"Did you find them?" Levy asked Natsu as he dumped two unconscious bodies in the earth at his feet.

"Can't smell anything with the smoke and the place is huge. Underground its maybe a half mile wide."

Levy took that as a no and steeled herself. Making a mask and some protection for her hands she slipped in through the chaos, her feet carrying her to where she knew Gajeel was going to be. The estate house was in ruins. The lights flickered uncertainly and despite the lack of flames, black soot still tried to choke her. Sticking to her skin and blinding her even more than the darkness.

And the realisation that she _could_ find him. The knowledge in her bones that let Levy know she would always know where he was. Would always feel him with her. It didn't matter that she had no map. No light. No direction. She could find him despite the smoke and the fire.

A feeling stronger than her own fear of the dark moving her feet.


	28. Chapter 27

Levy heard the call in her blood- all the way down to her bones. A shrill excitable scream pounding in her veins. Thumping in her ears. She found it difficult to concentrate on anything that wasn't the thought of finding Gajeel. Not the smoke of the dying fires still burning her throat. Not the sounds of pained, fearful shouting. Not the cries or the thunderous bellow of battle still raging all around. None of it seemed to matter anymore, not when Gajeel was so close. As if she could just reach out her hands and touch him if she tried. Levy made herself stop and take a shuddering breath. Reminding herself for the tenth time that Wendy was also here. Laxus. Lily and Carla. They were all in danger. The objective was more than saving just him.

 _You really are somethin' special._

Gajeel whispered reverently in her ear, his voice a soft purr as Levy ducked through an open doorway watching as three Knights darted passed. She avoided where she could - concealing herself with magic where she couldn't, but Levy didn't need Freed telling her that in a fight she was at a disadvantage. Her leg was still stiff, her reflexes more sluggish than usual and then there was the anxiety - the sickening roll of her stomach at the very thought of blood. The image of a grotesque, broken toothed smile grinning down at her. The shudder that wracked through Levy made bile creep up her throat. She knew she would need to be smart about this. It didn't need to be said for her to know she had to pick her battles with care.

"You're moving," She said out loud. "It's erratic. How big is this place, anyway?" there were three floors above ground, but the stairs went down. More soldiers appearing up from their depths like ants.

 _Moving is good. Means I'm free. Erratic targets are harder to catch._ She could tell Gajeel would have been grinning at her _. But you're probably gonna hit the fightin' eventually. I ain't known for my ability to run from a brawl. You should leave now. I'll find you._

"No. You could be hurt. How do I even know you're walking under your own power?" She felt herself grow angry. "Stop being stupid," She bit out, rubbing at her eyes. "And yet here I am, arguing with someone who isn't even here."

Gajeel only snorted. And apparition or not, figment or otherwise, Levy's face went red with frustration.

 _"Insufferable,"_ She hissed loudly.

"Hey! You there?!"

The man's voice made her almost stumble and trip on the frayed edge of the singed, upturned carpet. Levy flung out her arm to brace against the wall, her nose brushing soot stained wallpaper.

One of the most important rules of any infiltration.

Silence.

She spun faster than she thought would be possible in her condition and chains appeared at the behest of her still nimble fingers, coiling like a snake around him as he rushed her drawing his sword. The Knight immediately lost his footing and fell face first to the carpet - immobilised and snarling. Weapons clattering into the darkness. He pulled and struggled, roaring and rolling on the floor.

"GET THESE THINGS OFF ME!" He screamed.

It took a moment for Levy to realise his words were fueled more by fear than anger. His wide eyes. Tear streaked cheeks from too much smoke. The building was still on fire in parts. The air thick and poisonous. And if she chose to leave him like this, he would surely die.

"So you can do what, exactly?" She questioned him, calm, composed. A ruthless disregard in her voice that would have made Phantom Lord Gajeel proud. Despite the fact that it was now _her_ that was secretly panicking. Could she leave him to die?

The man stilled, considering.

"I'd... I'd..." The thought sputtered out in his head. "I have a wife, two little kids. I just wanna see them again."

 _Don't do it._

Gajeel was frowning at her from the darkness. Her head snapped to the shadows where he waited, leaning casually against the wall.

"You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do. My Gajeel would never just leave an innocent man to die," She said firmly.

He laughed at her. Openly laughed. His eyes seemed to glow red hot in the dark.

 _No one here is innocent. Only takes a look to know he's lyin'. Don't be stupid._ He tilted his head to the side, running his tongue over a canine. _And I've left plenty to die, shorty._

 _"You_ \- he isn't that person any more," Her voice strained.

 _Then were the hell did I come from, then?_

Levy had no response for him. Was there anything that she could even say? Anything that would be worth saying to someone who wasn't even there? Ghostly fingers traced her cheek and she felt her eyes well, tears burning, and not from the thickening air.

The man at her feet was staring at her with a new type of concern plastered across his dirty face. Once white coat blackened. She couldn't tell what colour his hair had been under the layer of ash.

Levy for all appearances was talking to herself. Culminating with the fear that she'd leave him to die was the worry that she was genuinely insane. But she'd already made up her mind. Despite what Gajeel would argue, she just couldn't do it. Wouldn't. It wasn't who she was.

She stared at the Knight, gaze softening.

"Get out of here," Levy swiped her hand over him and his chains vanished in a blink, as though they'd never been there at all. They vanished into smoke and nothing.

The Knight remained unmoving for a moment, confused and Levy felt the pressure on her shoulders lighten. There was a line between what was necessary and what was wrong and as blurry as the rest of the world became, she knew that border. Knew she would never be willing to cross it.

But her feelings of moral superiority were quickly short lived. With a glance down the smokey hall to check for others, the dark Knight kicked out, Levy's weakened knee buckling as she cried out in pain. Staggered by the impact, he swept his other foot across her ankles, taking her legs from underneath her and she hit the floor with a dull, rattling thud. Disorientated, Gajeel's patented snarl echoed in her head. It was seconds. Barely a few heartbeats. Just a moment before the Knight was on her, rough palms pinning her hands over her head, practically sitting on her as Levy thrashed, struggling to breathe.

The weight pressing into her was immense. She hadn't noticed before but he wasn't a small man. Slightly overweight, breath heavy with garlic and only maybe an inch shorter than Gajeel. Every inhale that followed her initial wet gasp of shock and fear grew shorter than the last, as less and less air made it to her lungs. They burned in her chest, clogged with burnt wood and terror.

His lips were cracked, teeth black from the fumes and ash when he grinned down at her, hands releasing her wrists to wrap around her throat, and for just a brief second of panic his face was replaced with Braca's. Levy's head was spinning as memories of the library assaulted her. She wanted to scream but couldn't. Suddenly able to recall the stomach turning stench of blood and decay. Head swimming as her consciousness slipped away from her, crushed under his squeezing grip. One oozing yellow eye staring down from above. And Gajeel - the image of Gajeel silently glaring at her from over her assailants shoulder, face grave. Jaw tightening as his lips pulled back in a silent snarl.

If Gajeel had survived this place - if he'd fought and suffered for her, she needed to do the same.

 _Time to fight, Lev._

The face over her settled back into view. Two brown eyes, red, dirty cheeks. Human. Just a Human man. No magic that she could sense. He was nothing special.

Levy steeled herself and kicked her feet with all she had, eyes wild, pulling desperately against the grip, grasping at thick fingers, but brute strength was against her and no matter how much she struggled and twisted, she couldn't move more than an inch. Couldn't get enough air passed her lips. He angled his face away when she raked her clawed hands for his eyes. Grunting when her knees collided with his back throwing him off balance.

Gajeel's presense was suddenly gone and she felt that absence almost as much as the air. Had he abandoned her. She wanted to cry. Scream. With one last grunt of effort she drove her knee up and the Knight tipped to the side as her blow finally managed to hit home, and while it wasn't enough for him to release her completely, she managed to gulp down a breath of precious air.

Her vision cleared just enough to form a coherent thought and with a desperate cry Levy twisted her head and sank her teeth into his wrist, drawing blood and forcing him to pull back with a wounded yelp and a curse. Solid script words for all their straightforwardness were actually rather complicated spells. They required concentration and focus. Neither of which Levy had in abundance.

But there were always cheats. Simple runes to summon certain basic things. Quicker, less exacting but harder to direct and control. Levy traced a rune in the air.

It had been the first combat rune that came to mind. Something solid and heavy to knock the man off her, give her the time and space to get up and run. The magic surged and manifested but the Knight didn't move, except to sit back a little. Watching her with a stillness that frightened her.

The face above her was expressionless as he cocked his head to the side, looking as if it was the first time he were seeing her. The Knight opened his mouth as though to say something but silently, a stream of blood trickled down instead. Blinking furiously now, he coughed and more sprayed out, drenching her.

Levy finally released that pent up scream as he toppled to the side, a blade of crude iron the length of her forearm penetrating right between his shoulder blades. He hadn't made a sound. Nothing more than a gasp of air before he fell.

She wriggled her way out from under his limp legs and scurried backward, gasping, rendered mute by confusion. She'd wanted a club. It shouldn't have summoned a blade. She'd inadvertently killed him, when she'd simply intended to injure.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," She repeated the words, tears now rolling down her face, uncertain who she was apologising to. It certainly wasn't to the Knight. Apologies were utterly wasted on the dead. Perhaps it was to herself. An altogether putrid exercise in ego.

"Gajeel?" She coughed out. There was no response. The presence that had kept her sane was still absent. Levy hadn't realised how alone that would make her feel. "Please, Gajeel," Her voice was growing hoarser as she crept back from the body, only stopping when her back hit the wall.

Open eyes stared back at her from a growing pool of blood. Levy pulled at her hair, letting the sharp pain focus her. Or maybe to punish herself.

A glance down made her stomach empty onto the already ruined floor - the meagre meal Lucy had forced into her before everything went to crap with the mission. The Knight's blood was splattered everywhere. Her clothes, her hands, her hair. She touched her neck, wincing. Her throat felt like she'd swallowed glass. It would bruise. No doubt with enormous meaty prints.

Swiping the back of her hand over her face she climbed the wall to her feet and tried to get her bearings again. Look for that beacon that had been guiding her - that tenuous bond that was steadily pulling her but it too was worryingly quiet.

Levy sucked in a breath and tried not to dwell on whatever might have twisted her rune. Warped it with such a lethal precision. Gajeel, her real, flesh and blood and iron Gajeel was loose. And if she was aware of him he was likely aware of her. They would find each other.

Shouting voices drifted through the clearing smoke and Levy limped as she tried to distance herself from them. The pain in her knee was a burning agony that made her wince with every forced step. Porlyusica was gonna kill her. It was the same leg. Whether the Knight had noticed her off tempo step and specifically targeted it or not, it was the same limb Braca had flayed the last time she'd seen him. Was it vanity to be troubled by the scars that she'd always have? The limp she might never be able to hide? Levy felt foolish for thinking about it now. She already had plenty of scars. The only difference was how visible they were.

"SIR!"

The Knights hollering behind spurred the pace as she kept close to the walls for balance. Under her palms the wood and stone trembled and she smiled. If you wanted to track down a Dragon Slayer, following the sounds of fighting was a good as any.

Natsu had clearly been busy because blackened wood was all that remained of the fire that had raged. Portions of the building had already collapsed and Levy could see the sun was breaking the dark horizon, just beyond the trees bordering the forest. She spied a glimpse of red hair and white steel dart passed a broken window, back the way she'd just come and she heaved a sigh, knowing she wasn't about to be followed.

"Levy?"

A figure seemed to emerge from nothing, rushing her.

 _"Juvia,"_ Levy gasped, her voice a strained hiss. Relief and fright made her legs weak.

Juvia pulled her into a hug and to Levy she smelled like fresh rain. A welcome change from the fire and blood.

"What are you doing so far from the others?" The water mage pulled back to look at her, hands still grasping her by the shoulders, as though Levy were some sort of flight risk. "It's not safe to be wandering the halls by yourself. Not all of the Knights stationed here are the good... " Juvia stopped mid-sentence noticing the red and blue marks around Levy's throat. She blinked before her gaze turned furious.

Levy broke her grip softly. Stepping back. Juvia didn't move, but it was clearly an effort not to close the distance.

"I'll help you back to the others," She reached for Levy who pushed her hand aside with a snarl.

"I can look after myself," She ground out, frustrated. Noting how Juvia's eyes fell again to her throat. To all the blood. "I've had worse. We have jobs to do."

Juvia gave her the smallest smile. Sad and distant. There was too much truth to that.

"It has been a trying number of weeks, Juvia will admit," Was the woman's only response before she gathered herself. "There were more guards than expected and with the fire put out they'll be dangerous. If I can not dissuade you, then let me at least go with you. Juvia has completed her mission, after all."

Levy nodded grimly. The fire was their distraction. With it now extinguished and Knights still roaming the Manor, it was bound to be chaos and Juvia was no stranger to this kind of madness.

"Thank you. You don't know where they might be headed?" Levy asked.

There was another rumble in the distance - the sound of wood cracking. Juvia and Levy sheltered in the arch of a doorway, looking at each other as splinters and dust fell. A grin bloomed on Juvia's face.

"Juvia has some theories."


	29. Chapter 28

Juvia watched Levy closely. Watched the way she still limped and stumbled - still fought to clamber over the hot, blackened debris littering their path. And the woman wondered if Levy knew that her legs and hands were bleeding. Shredded from a thousand soot covered scratches. Skin torn on broken stone and splintered wood. Juvia wondered if she could feel any of that at all as she watched a shard of glass graze Levy's neck while shimmied through the broken window in a great ornate door close to the main study. She never once so much as looked down at the blood that soaked the front of her shirt. Or gave any indication of having felt that sting of that split skin.

There was something wrong. Something that made every nerve, every sense she had shout at her to stop. Things had been tense in the guild. Emotions had run high and the normal structure of order had broken down... but they'd been wrong to place so much on Levy's shoulders. She wasn't thinking straight. Juvia saw that now.

Time slowed as they wound between fallen beams, through battered, broken doorways and tripped over stinging embers all the while fighting for every polluted breath. Their blue hair was already matted and dirty from the ash that rained down on them, obscuring most discernable features. Levy was muttering to herself. A trait Juvia had brushed off before but now saw with terrible clarity was far from normal behaviour. The ceiling above them cracked in warning, groaning ominously, and Juvia spared a glance up, her features tight.

Through the noxious haze she could see that it gave way to the floor above in a number of spots - the ornate plaster of the old upper rooms peering down at them through ragged holes. She could survive if the building fell down on her. Levy wouldn't.

"Stop! Levy, _stop,"_ Her dry throat burned with the words, hoarse from the fumes. "We need to slow down and think for a second," Juvia rasped, reaching out and catching Levy by the wrist when she looked about to ignore her and continue on. "Gajeel wouldn't want..."

"We don't have time to stop," Levy interrupted her, pulling free. Using the moments pause to wipe the ash out of her eyes. The look of hurt on Juvia's face made her chest ache. Guilt dragging its claws across the bones of her ribcage - brushing something exposed and raw underneath. Levy softened her tone, gesturing down the long hall. "We're close. I know we are," There was a sudden almost inhuman sounding roar that made Levy's teeth rattle as if the Universe itself were confirming her statement, but Juvia didn't move.

"What _I_ know ...is that if we continue on this route, the only thing that we'll find, is ourselves, buried under half this house."

There was a flicker in Levy's eyes that made Juvia's heart pound. Maybe she didn't care? Maybe the woman was passed worrying about such things. But the Levy McGarden Juvia knew always listened to reason.

"Please..." Juvia pleaded. "There _has_ to be another path."

The smoke was too thick to see the words Levy scrawled in the air but the stone and wooden beams that appeared either side of them, propping up what remained of the ceiling, told Juvia all she needed to know about Levy's willingness to consider any alternatives.

"And if it was Gray and not Gajeel?" Levy's voice cracked.

"Then..." Juvia swallowed thickly. The words she wanted to say suddenly refusing to come out. She could understand. There was no doubt she could understand. She would walk through burning hell barefoot for him. But she also knew that if it _were_ Gray, and their roles were reversed, he might not want her risking her life for him.

And Gajeel would hate her for every second she let Levy risk her life in this crumbling ruin. She knew that, too.

But Levy wasn't going to stop or heed her advice, either.

"Another beam," Juvia pointed ahead, her decision made. "The ceiling has sagged there." Levy obliged and raised another pillar. "And there!"

The pace picked up as the shouts and hollers intensified. Juvia periodically pointing to sections of wall and floor and ceiling, Levy's magic filing the gaps and securing their route as they went. She saw Levy stumble a step and slowed long enough to see the thing that had tripped her. The _body_ that had tripped her. The eyes were empty smoking sockets staring up at them The lips had burned away leaving the face in a perpetual and terrifying grin of black, cracked teeth. The clothes were nothing more than ashen scraps of fabric.

It was impossible to tell if the corpse had been one of the guards... or one of the prisoners that they'd released. Juvia wasn't entirely sure what she felt at the knowledge this might have been her doing. That responsibility for all this mayhem fell squarely on her shoulders. It was _not_ an easy death. She wasn't sure anyone deserved to spend their last minutes like that, regardless of what they'd done in life.

But Levy barely looked at him. Sparing just a quick glance to be sure it wasn't someone she recognized and she was moving again. Possessed by some compelling force that terrified Juvia all the same. There was love. Blinding, aching, selfless, burning love. And then there was _this_. Something almost unhinged. Something feral and cruel and unrelenting. Something _mad._

The woman she knew was a twisted image of herself. Reckless. Wild.

Levy muttered again and Juvia blinked.

"Who were you talking to?" She asked, her voice small and quiet and utterly fearful of whatever response might come back. Levy made sure not to turn and face her.

"No one..." The reply came all too softly

And Juvia knew, that whether they found Gajeel or not, their troubles were likely nowhere near over.

* * *

 _Just a little further. I'm not far now._

His voice was a beacon for her, spurring her on and directing her left and right through the smoke. Pushing her through the pain in her leg, the ache of those new muscles screaming for her to stop. To fall. The image of the smoking corpse surfaced in her mind and he was suddenly there to wipe it away.

 _They deserved it and worse. They separated us._

Levy blew out a harsh burning breath and grit her teeth.

And then he was gone and Juvia was crying in alarm beside her.

They'd arrived.

The path ahead was lit with dying fire and lightning - a haze of wind, steel and hot blood. The daylight streaming in was thin through the thick smoke and the carnage - thin despite the pure dawn rising outside. A hand on Levy's shoulder ripped her backwards and Juvia covered her body with her own as a piece of stone hurtled passed, breaking on the marble pillars beside them and exploding - showering them both in shards as razor sharp as glass. They pelted Juvia's body like the surface of water, passing through, slowing and clattering to the floor like a hundred dropped pins.

"There!"

Juvia cried, pointing to the far side of what looked once to have been a great dining room. The long table at its center had been heaved on its side and pushed against the missing segment of wall, sealing them in where the exterior stone had been broken. The once towering iron Dragon Slayer was paler than she'd ever seen him, his movements sluggish as he parried boulders of dark stone from a combatant Knight, knocking them aside with jagged iron blades when he lacked the strength to break them completely. Levy felt a wave of forgotten pains lance through her. Warm, terrible relief flooded her at the sight of him. Alive. Whole. Her body sagged as whatever force that had been spurring her started to evaporate. Juvia caught her shoulders as she wavered on her feet.

"Helping you here was a mistake!" Juvia's voice was far away when Levy heard it. Like it was being filtered through the water like those stones. Laced with worry and fear and dread and doubt.

But her attention was still on Gajeel. He hadn't noticed her yet, but he was okay. He was fighting and alive and she'd always known he was. He was so close now. So close that she could feel the breath of his magic brush her own. Still held by Juvia she whispered his name and the shaven haired man across the room paused, startling at the tiny reverent sound. Levy shook free of Juvia's grasp, unable to stand the stillness, the hesitation, not when he was no so close. She ran heedlessly into the fray, passed Laxus who'd just _thrown_ Wendy at a soldier. Passed a pair of gloved hands that reached for her only to be wetly slapped away, their owner shouting in rage and pain as Juvia took him off his feet.

She ran. One step. Two. Three. She could _smell_ him. The tang of iron in her nose overpowering even the smoke and blood and singed flesh. He wasn't watching when the next rock came his way but a wave off her hand sent it breaking against the shield she'd conjured. Levy reached out her arms to him, smiling. He grinned back stupidly.

But he wasn't getting any closer Levy realised. She pushed herself a little more, her legs straining but the distance between them remained. Gajeel's matching smile faded as he seemed to realise this as well. Like they were on a treadmill. Confusion and horror made her shake as the world was suddenly warping around them. The air she frantically sucked into her lungs cleared and day turned to moonless night. The dining room twisted and opened into an enormous arena. A space potted with biting, jagged stone spikes and wide, dark cracks that sunk deep down into the earth along the outer borders.

Levy hadn't realised that anything had been moving until it all came to a jarring stop. The ground racing up to meet her as she fell forward into cold dirt. Coughing, she scrambled to her knees searching for Gajeel and Juvia and the others but she couldn't see them through the forest of rock.

Beyond the spikes and open plains marred by impossible craters, spectator stands walled them all in. And from the seats, still, empty eyed faces watched silently. Soulless puppets. Without breath or movement. Things without feeling. Levy had seen this magic before. The power to build worlds within worlds. Pocket dimensions.

Places were there creator was as a _god._

She sucked in a breath and roared his name into the darkness. The pillars were too close together for Levy to slip through the spaces between and though she dug her fingers - her nails into the surface of the rock she could gain no purchase.

"GAJEEL!" She bellowed. When there was no response she cried his name again.

 _I'm_ _here._

Gajeel's voice came in reply and Levy couldn't figure out if she'd imagined it or not. The words coming from within.

 _I'm here_.

 _"No._ I want the real Gajeel!" She snapped to the empty air. Frustrated that having come so close he was gone again.

 _I am Gajeel._

 _"_ You're not! _"_

The visage that appeared in front of her was Gajeel as he had been. Thick, billowing black hair. Red eyes shining out from the darkness of his face. Beautiful and cruel. Entirely without mercy.

 _I live inside you now._

The figure grinned and Levy was stuck by an urge to recoil from it. So strange now to fear something that looked and sounded like Gajeel - the man she loved.

"You...are _not_ Gajeel!" She repeated.

Levy slashed her hand through the apparition, watching the image waiver in ripples of distorted air. It wasn't real she reminded herself. It wasn't real.

"Levy!"

Her ears perked and she was crying when she glanced up to find Wendy hopping across the stone peaks on a phantom wind, picking her way toward her.

"Wendy, are the others with you? Gajeel?"

"They're all fine. Just trapped the other side of all this rock," She said, scrubbing at her dirty face, smiling brightly.

In the distance, stone exploded amidst a shower of dust and shouts - they were making a path to her. Unluckily, Levy seemed to have landed alone, trapped in the middle of this spiked field. Though she'd been fortunate not to have been skewered.

The reality of this all finally began settling and Levy felt its heavy weight. Even the weakest wielders of this type of power were a threat if you fell into their grasp. As long as they were in here, they were at their captors mercy.

As Wendy retreated, Levy flexed her fingers, summoned a blade and began hacking at rock. Firing the steel words in the direction of the ruckus ahead.

It felt painstakingly slow. The rock was harder, sharper than any stone and her blades buckled and cracked, warping beyond use every second strike. It was like unpolished crystal more than stone.

Levy wiped the sweat off her face and struck again and again. Till her arms ached and her breath was strained. She fought forward till she could make out movement ahead. Flickers of light and colour between the black pillars.

"Levy..."

It seemed strained but Levy couldn't imagine a sweeter sound than her name on his lips. The sight of an eye peaking through the rock followed by the tips of three fingers that made her sob. She reached for him and the moment her hand touched his, tears bloomed, clearing her eyes with black flowing streaks down her cheeks.

"You okay?" He asked, taking in the sight of her again through the gap.

Levy laughed at him.

"You looked half dead, Gajeel, and you're asking if _I'm_ okay?"

She brought her face close to his outstretched hand.

"Look like someone dragged you backwards through a bush, _while_ the bush was on fire, Lev...allowed to be worried, you know," he chuckled, managing to brush his thumb down her tear streaked cheek.

"Not far off it, I suppose," Levy teased him.

"Stand back!"

Over Gajeel's shoulder lightning crackled and Levy stepped to the side as the barrier between them blew apart. She hadn't opened her eyes fully before she felt arms pull her off her feet, spinning her once before setting her down. Levy wrapped herself around him and sobbed.

He was thinner than she remembered. Were her hands couldn't touch at his back before, now they could. Now she could interlock her fingers at his spine. There was still strength in him. Still that undiminished Dragon power surging in his blood, but there was definitely less of Gajeel Redfox.

"You've lost so much weight," Levy found herself muttering against his chest.

Gajeel shushed her. Thumbs rubbing circles on her back.

"Gives the cat an excuse to cook. That's all," he pulled back, cupping her face and looking at her. "I'm _fine."_ He said somberly. Levy might have believed that if he hadn't looked so gaunt. So haunted. She ran her fingers over his cheek leaving three dark, dirty lines in their wake. Gajeel leaned into the touch.

"What did they do to you?"

He pulled back slightly at the question. Catching her hand gently in his own.

"Nothin' permanent."

Then there was that self assured cocky grin answering her.

Levy knew it was a lie. Felt it. He wanted to spare her. Shield her from whatever horrors had gone on in this place but Levy saw it in his eyes. The same shadow she so often saw in her own. Anger stuck her like a bolt of lightning. Hard and sharp. She wanted to scream.

"When Fairy Tail do rescues..." Laxus whistled from the other side of the hole they'd blown in the column of rock. There was a large bleeding gash running down his temple though he looked in better condition than Gajeel.

"Things aren't on fire anymore?" Wendy offered cheerily, appearing underneath the arm he'd propped up against the stone.

"There's that." Laxus laughed, tugging one of her disheveled pigtails, and wincing when she not so playfully punched him in the side. "Hey, watch it squirt," he laughed at her, locking eyes with Levy, reading her silent question. "Just us," He said quietly.

"You think they're still in the real world?" Wendy asked louder.

"Hard to say."

Levy felt her thoughts drift and took a deep breath, breathing Gajeel in, swallowing down the laugh that reminded her of how much she missed the normalcy of the guild. Before all of this. Before the killings.

 _He's not the same. He will never be the same._

She clenched her jaw, grinding teeth at the voice that whispered to her. Gajeel but not Gajeel. She closed her eyes and pressed herself again into his chest, letting his steady heartbeat calm her while she willed that figment to be silent. There was only one Gajeel and he was here, living and breathing in her arms again.

"Any plan to get us outta here?"

Laxus shrugged.

"Nothing stopping our captor putting us back in," Laxus frowned, considering. He glanced down to Wendy. "That dangerous plan b we scrapped first time round?"

She made a face at him. An unhappy one.

"Still the same terrible plan."

They made their way out passed the border of the spiked field and into the clearing, the eyes of those terrifying puppets in the stands following their every step. In the open space Wendy gestured them back and started drawing her magic. She did so with an ease that would never cease to astound them. Summoning without the need of strong emotion. No anger. No fear. Calculated. Controlled. But there was still a Dragon in there too. In every inch of soul and drop of blood. Wendy sucked in a breath and around her the winds shifted, howling and whipping up the sands, spinning a dark vortex into the sky that blocked out the white, glowing moon. Gajeel threw himself to the ground, shielding Levy, and as the winds cleared they watched a shadow flicker passed the moons silhouette, falling from the sky, landing hard in the earth before them.

Gajeel actually laughed - some dark, broken sound that resonated within Levy as the figure rose shakily to his feet, disoriented. Their captors face was a picture of confusion at the realisation that he'd just been sucked into his own prison.

 _"How?"_

Just a one word question. Snarled low at them. A vein of offense in his tone that they'd _dared_ to pull him in to _his_ prison.

"The food came from outside...so did the water," Wendy said. She could have been smirking but it was difficult to tell under the ash. It could have been a grimace, too. Her voice was flat. "I guessed the air did as well. From outside," She pointed up at the clear, cloudless sky. Illuminated by something unseen. An open lid on their glass tank.

"You should have left me out there," Steel grey eyes seemed to laugh at them before the earth itself melted and rose up to swallow Wendy. Sucking her back down into the earth, leaving only her head free and visible. The dirt becoming that crystalline rock, squeezing her tightly. Stopping her from drawing in the necessary breath she needed for her magic.

She thrashed violently for a second before stilling as the oxygen in her blood thinned.

"It's still my world, whether I'm out there or in here." Noc ground out, brushing the dirt from his Council jacket. Flexing his fingers menacingly - promising untold nightmares.

A blast of lightning crackled, piercing the air and striking Noc in the shoulder, hurling him backwards where he skidded painfully to a stop in the gravel with an agonized groan.

"Die out there, die in here. Doesn't matter a _damn_ to me," Laxus remarked coldly, eyes narrowed with the sharp focus of a predator He made a tight fist above his head and when his arm dropped, a bolt of lightning stuck the stone around Wendy. She gave a brief shriek of pain, catching some of the blast but as the dust cleared she was crawling from the hole Laxus had just made.

Levy's gaze flashed to Gajeel who hadn't moved, having gone silent. He was... hesitant. Conflicted were he was once always so sure of everything. The sight of him like that made bile creep up her throat. Like the man she'd grown to love was suddenly so very far away.

 _I'm not myself._

The voice purred in Levy's ear and she swallowed.

Movement caught her eye. Shadows moving against the moonlight at the edge of her vision. When she saw them her breath hitched; the figures in the stands, they'd begun to _move._ Climbing down, wave after wave into the great ring were the spikes were receding back into the earth and the deep pits were healing, leaving a flat, even land for them to cross. They moved like mannequins. Stiff limbed with lumbering steps that left their motions jarring. Terrifying.

"Gajeel!" He hadn't seemed to notice yet, transfixed on the scene ahead and she shook him slightly. _"Gajeel!"_ She said his name once more and he blinked himself back to her.

She pointed over his shoulder to the forces that were now surrounding them.

Gajeel turned but made no noise. Levy squeezed his wrist. A weight to remind him she was there with him. That he wasn't alone.

He glanced down at her and let out a breath at the softness in her face. Twenty yards away Wendy and Laxus were fighting Noc as he bent the very world against them. They wouldn't hold out against both him and the forces he had summoned to help him.

"Together?" Levy whispered up to Gajeel. Her eyes were wet. Wide. A question. A promise.

"Together," Gajeel finally smiled, a flicker of light returning to his dim eyes, Iron dancing along his skin once more.


	30. Chapter 29

Levy felt her heart crack just a little at the weeping red lines streaking Gajeel's chest and back. Angry, painful looking things now crisscrossing over his already scarred flesh. She had to remind herself that these were comparably minor injuries but it was difficult to come to terms with him going through so much and still having more of himself taken. His flesh cut into so many small strips; shredded like his spirit. There was an air of defeat in him now. From a battle he'd fought and lost alone.

Was this what he'd seen in her after her run in with the Dragonslayer? A frayed emptiness.

 _"DOWN!"_

Levy felt the air ripped from her lungs and the dirt beneath her feet disappear as a blast of frigid air took her and Gajeel off the ground and flattened them against the biting gravel. She reeled, not entirely certain of what she was seeing as Laxus' limp body barreled overhead; a tangle of bloodied limbs colliding with the ground twenty feet past like a boulder. Dirt and stone exploded in every direction and Gajeel had just enough of a thought to roll and cast an arm over her head as jagged rock reigned down tinging against his iron scales.

Gajeel muttered something she missed, she was so disorientated, but a red slicked thumbs-up appeared from the hole that Laxus had vanished into.

"Yeah, then w _atch it_ , thunderdick!" Gajeel huffed, coughing up a lung full of dust as Laxus slowly clambered from the crater, straightening himself, mouth a thin humorless line.

"Not sure if you know, but I didn't just eat dirt by _choice_." He snarled back.

Gajeel only snorted, casting an eye to Wendy who as of yet hadn't been hit.

"I don't see the squirt getting smacked around."

"Yes... cause the squirt ...learned how ...to dodge." Wendy's out of breath voice carried on a phantom wind even amid the noise of breaking rock.

A small rock caught on the updraft winds struck Laxus in the side of the face and he huffed, deflated, before teleporting back into the fray where enormous tentacles of glass stone were attempting to bat Wendy from the air like an insect.

Gajeel's worried gaze locked on Levy's and she grasped his hand just to reassure him that she was okay. They were still here and they were still fighting. More than that, they were fighting together. He leaned over her and she felt his breath brush her nose before he left a kiss on her forehead. Despite all the dust and blood and dry air it was still nervous sweat slicking his hand in hers. She squeezed his fingers.

"Whatever happens, whatever we do, we're together. We _do it_ together," She whispered.

Levy knew what he was going to say before he said it. While he warred with the words he couldn't make himself say. His eyes searching the blank faces of the masses of new drones marching their way.

She smiled; a warmth in it she perhaps didn't entirely feel but she offered him anyway.

"I can handle these. Go."

Awe shone on his face; a delighted light that seemed to reflect back at her. Dim but growing brighter by the moment.

"I don't deserve you." Gajeel whispered. And he meant that. He wasn't made to be loved. Light and strength and hope were a living current that vibrated between them, growing despite the darkness in them both.

"Haven't you figured it out?" Levy smirked knowingly. "We don't get what we deserve. We get what we get. And we make it work out or we don't."

Gajeel scratched at the back of his shaven head, the feel of stubble still eerily strange. Another wave of conjured puppets were approaching and this intimate moment would quickly pass. She was everything to him. He didn't need a mate. What he had was already so much more than that. Levy was his friend. His lover. She had chosen to care for him; knew him in ways no one else had. Lily had never seen the man he'd been, never seen the monster, but she had. He pulled her close. Until the ache in his soul quietened and he was able to convince himself that there was a way out of all of this.

"I'm gonna marry the shit out of you." The words slipped out while he held her; the only thing that stopped Gajeel from covering his mouth at the inadvertent omission. Though saying the words out loud he couldn't even fathom regretting them.

Levy blushed against his chest, a hot shade of crimson that would have otherwise been visible from the other side of the stadium.

"That's if I say yes, you know," She finally managed with a grumble.

"Oh, _you will_!"

Gajeel stepped back and turned on his heel, cocky laughter filling the air as he raced for the fight. Levy couldn't completely hide the half grin that formed at the thought of surviving this _just to kick his godsdamn ass herself_ before she too turned to the more pressing matter stalking across the stones. The first wave had so far proven a few things. And tired and battered though she might have been, Levy wasn't worried any more. Noc may have had power over this place but he was still just a man.

 _And men have no business in the affairs of monsters._

Levy ignored the faint voice that echoed with Gajeel's raspy tones and focused again. She knew better than most that even the best multitasker in the world couldn't fight three Dragonslayers and simultaneously micromanage a horde like this. They could swarm but they didn't have the intelligence required to outsmart her. To overwhelm her would require a coordinated attack.

She spared a glance behind her in time to see Gajeel sever one of those black stone arms and Laxus blast through a wall that Noc had hastily thrown up to defend himself.

"Stupid Gajeel," Levy snorted, flicking her fingertips through the air and casting a horizontal blade through the center of the approaching ranks of puppets. Three more blades followed that, slicing straight through their middles. Leaving mounds of bloodless torsos littering the field like a sea of broken toys. She was far stronger than she remembered. There had been a time not too long past when the thought of standing alone amidst an ocean of enemies would have made her stomach tie itself into any number of knots, but not now. The recent months had been terrifying. Her life filled with pain and uncertainty. But these were no wild Dragonslayers. No army of Council Knights with warrants, intent on locking them up for the rest of their lives in a tiny cell. They were dolls. Without teeth. Or claws. Stiff arms and legs and not an expression of feeling between them. In a way, it wasn't so much that she didn't fear them, more that she wasn't afraid to destroy them. Truthfully, breaking them she felt nothing. Not hate or guilt. It was...almost relieving. To expend all of what had been pent up and know that she wasn't simply sharing the suffering inside her. Infecting someone else with the horrors that still haunted her. She had seen and fought monsters. She wouldn't become someone else's nightmare.

This was _easy_. And the puppets that she didn't burn, or beheaded, blow up or shred with wild knives found themselves battling through pools of glue to get to her. A single word and the ground was an impossible terrain to cross on foot.

From the slowing sounds behind, Godlike though he was here, Dragon Slayer stamina was ultimately winning out. Noc was not a young man and if he'd ever seen actual combat it was long passed. No matter how much magic he had at his disposal he simply couldn't keep up with them all. Where he'd started on the offensive now he was struggling to even maintain a basic defense. Bloodied. Chest heaving. Hands shaking as his power and strength waned.

To Levy's wonderment, the three Dragonslayers we're fighting together. Switching between short, mid and long range attacks. Deflecting blows for each other. Creating diversions and openings in his defenses. He swiped for Wendy, didn't catch Gajeel's assault fast enough to block and when he turned away from the blow that surely would have taken his jaw clean from his skull, he found himself caught in the grip of a far from pleased Laxus, his fist wrapped firmly around the man's throat.

"I could take your head off before you could so much as move a rock," Laxus squeezed just a little to make his point, as Noc's blunt nails raked at his arm and his eyes rolled a little back into his head as he gasped.

The world around them began breaking apart and through fissures of light and smoke and drifting noise they saw figures of people moving in the distance. Heard shouting and hollering.

Levy rushed them, sumbling over stone and the littered bodies of his broken puppets and seized Gajeel's hand just as they re-emerged back in the manor, the fight that had been taking place was well and truly over. Cana greeted them with a soft look, her hand automatically going to her hair at the sight of Gajeel's tight cut. It certainly wasn't pity in her face, more gratitude that it hadn't been her that had been left like that.

The decimated room had become a gathering point for them all. The fires were out and with the stone pillars propping up the roof this was one of the few places that hadn't caved in on itself. Erza and Natsu stood over a large group of bound Knights who looked up at them both with a mixture of sheer terror and awe. They were covered in soot but otherwise uninjured.

Levy didn't even manage a glance around before her grip on Gajeel was severed and Lucy was pulling her from her feet in a hug. Leo and Aries were helping with first aid, fussing over Juvia who was clutching her arm to her chest and refusing offers of any kind of treatment.

The mute girl she'd seen earlier was over with the group of bound soldiers. Levy couldn't see what was being said but she was gesturing wildly.

Was this it? Was it over? Was it finally done?

 _"Gajeel?"_ Lucy's shriek almost deafened Levy. "Your _hair_?"

The exclamation drew the focus of the whole room and Gajeel visibly squirmed under the attention. Natsu snorted with laughter but was silenced abruptly by an armored fist from Erza.

"It'll grow back. Ain't lost nothing permanent." Gajeel brushed off the concern though the words left a foul taste on his tongue.

"I can have Capricorn...?" Lucy started to say with an eager smile but she was interrupted.

"It'll _grow."_ He said with a quiet firmness.

Lucy's grin faltered only a brief second before she looked back between them both, beaming again.

"I guess Lily will have free reign over the shampoos you've been collecting then?" She teased him earning a snort.

"I have _always_ had free reign on his hair products!"

It was Gajeel that moved to embrace Lily first almost knocking the air from the oversized cat's lungs with the force.

"Why I get the big bottles..." The words were quiet.

 _I was never this pathetic!_

The words sent Levy's heart racing in a way that she hadn't felt since Braca had cornered her in the library. _No!_ The voice was meant to be gone. Gajeel was _here._ He was back. They were together again. Why was she still hearing this echo? A laugh she hadn't heard in a very, _very_ long time was the only answer she received before her mind quieted again.

Gajeel, _her_ Gajeel, had heard or sensed her anxiety and was there at her side almost instantly. He didn't need to ask. The worry on his face was clear as he palmed her cheek.

"It's fine, I'm fine. We can talk later," she breathed, conscious that there were eyes on them. Not all of which were Fairy Tail.

"Later!" Gajeel affirmed.

Levy knew that this phantom wasn't just in her head. It had shown her Gajeel as he'd appeared when she'd no clue of the torment he'd suffered. When she couldn't have possibly known that they'd cut his hair or that he'd become so pale - so gaunt. Where it had come from and why it still haunted her was something they desperately needed to have resolved.

Shouting across the great hall broke up the reunion and Gajeel was reminded of the loose ends that still dangled hapless between them all. They'd defied the Council, assaulted Knights, Laxus was currently holding a Council member by the neck draped in the same chains made for the Dragonslayers.

"I am not a criminal. And I will not be treated like such." Noc struggled in Laxus's unbreakable grip.

"The last I'd heard, Human experimentation was still forbidden," Erza's eyes blazed while she spoke.

"Unwilling experimentation. Your Dragon Slayer agreed!"

Every set of eyes turned to Gajeel.

"Under _duress,"_ he snorted, incredulous. "And if it were just me, _fine..."_ he heaved a shaky breath, words falling to deathly whispers. "...but it's not about me, is it? How many people _died_ in that basement?"

"They were _criminals,"_ the words were snarled back.

"Hate to break it to yah, but being criminals doesn't stop them bein' people," The death throes of a screaming face gnawed at Gajeel's insides, bubbling the bile in his stomach up as far as the back of this tongue. The face that his mind conjured, melted in front of his very eyes. A hand on his arm brought him back to the current conversation and he steadied his breathing. "You're a _murderer."_ Gajeel finally hissed at him.

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Gajeel Redfox!"

A fist hit Noc in the face hard enough to send him reeling back, eyes blinking stupidly as a new river of blood ran down his nose. Gajeel stared dumbly as Levy stood over the man. Even though on his knees Noc was still maybe only a few inches shorter than her standing, soot covered silhouette.

Noc glanced around, every set of eyes fixed on him. On this moment.

"You think I'm the _villain_ in this? I'm not!" Noc seemed to plead. "My job was to protect us by any means necessary. You think you've saved the day? You think this is the _end?_ You have no idea what's coming for us all."

"It doesn't matter what's coming. We're going to beat it." Levy stepped back and slipped her hand in Gajeel's, holding it tightly.

Noc was right about that at least. More was coming. The Council was in ruins. Royal family assassinated. They still had too many questions unanswered and a lingering dread; that they'd only just started to scratch the surface of the hell that was presently rising at the borders.

"And who are you to be making such bold claims," His eyes darted between her and Gajeel. "You are... _nothing to him._ He's a monster. They're _all_ monsters. Just like Braca...and in the end he'll only hurt you. That's what they were made for. Death. Suffering. You think just because you're his little girlfriend you'll be protected from that?" He laughed. "They are bringers of war and destruction. You little fool," he spat the words along with a glob of bloody saliva at Levy's feet. Something of the real man shining through in the face of his complete defeat, or perhaps the fear of his failure and its yet to be seen consequences. But it wasn't the words that shocked Levy still, but the falsehood in them. The inadequacy she now knew them to be.

"They were never just killers, they were protectors first, _our_ protectors," Her memory drifted back to the image in the book. Of a group of people standing together smiling. Dragonslayers. People who'd given everything, and had so much taken from them. _"_ And I'm not his girlfriend," Levy's voice became small. She could feel the crushing sadness - the misery in Gajeel at hearing those words but he said nothing. She clenched her fist tightly. Whatever awaited them, she was ready. "I'm _not_ his girlfriend. I'm his _mate."_

And Levy knocked the man out cold. The crack of his own nose was the last thing he knew before blackness.

That and Levy's terrifying grin.

* * *

Note:

Sorry about the crazy long wait. RL has just been killing me what with my new job and impending wedding. A huge thank you to anyone still putting up with my bullshit excuses and reading along. I'm really, really sorry for the time you guys are waiting.


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